


Anne Lockhart's Terror

by Sephirotha



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Abduction, Asperger Syndrome, Multi, Schizophrenia, Threesome - F/M/M, Unplanned Pregnancy, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-27 14:47:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 27
Words: 44,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephirotha/pseuds/Sephirotha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anne's worst nightmares began coming true ever since the arrival of her new History teacher, Sephiroth.  Because of his dark obsession, Anne's life gets thrown into turmoil.  Will she be able to retain her sanity?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Hikari?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Jade?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Serenity?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Sky?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Zelda?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Asa?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Rafael?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Fiona?”  
“…Yes, sir.”  
“Luka?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Luna?”  
“Yes, sir!”  
“Phoenix?”  
“Y-Yes, sir!”  
“Yuffie?”  
“Yes, sir!”  
“Crystal?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Anne?”  
Silence met his call and Sephiroth lifted his head from the register with a confused frown.  
“Anne Lockhart?”  
Ruka shrugged as Erik looked around.  
“She was in my last class,” he said with a shrug.  
“Oh, wait, she had to stay behind to sort something out with Professor Gast,” Bianca suddenly remembered.  
“Surely Professor Gast can see her after school?” Sephiroth said with an irritable twitch in his brow.  
Darren shrugged helplessly when Sephiroth’s gaze passed him.  
“Well, Professor Gast said it was urgent,” Elizabeth said.  
“I don’t care if it is urgent, Professor Gast should know better than to hold back a pupil for more than ten minutes.”  
Everyone flinched at Sephiroth’s calm angry tone. Megumi winced at the awkward silence and turned to Phillip.  
“He’s never usually like this when someone else is held back,” she observed and Phillip hushed her softly.  
Phillip waited until Sephiroth’s gaze passed over them and whispered something in her ear.  
“Well, Anne is his favourite pupil apparently,” he murmured “I suppose that’s why he’s rather grumpy.”  
“Sir, surely we can start the lesson without Anne?” Hayley proposed as she raised her hand.  
When Sephiroth began to stare her down, she whimpered, considering hiding underneath her desk.  
“Wait, sir, here she comes!” Flint suddenly said, having a good view of the door.  
Poor, exhausted and panicked Anne stumbled into the classroom, hands on her knees and panting loudly. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at her, unimpressed.  
“I’m sorry…I’m late…sir…” Anne breathed.  
“Apology not accepted, detention for you, Miss Lockhart,” Sephiroth said and Anne looked at him exasperatedly.  
“But, sir!”  
“It wasn’t her fault,” Evelyn tried to stand up for her.  
“Silence. After school detention, Miss Lockhart. This afternoon.”  
“Sir, you should really give her a warning instead of being so…” Hikari started.  
“You will be joining her if you continue to talk, Miss Adams,” Sephiroth warned and Hikari flinched “Hurry up, Miss Lockhart, unpack your things and sit down.”  
Anne sighed tiredly, dragging herself to sit in between Jade and Serenity, right in front of his desk. Sephiroth smiled mentally as he watched her and continued the register.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne's detention and Anne pleads with her mother to get a history tutor. Warning: a bit mature at the end of chapter

Anne huffed moodily as she copied up notes from the textbook in front of her. Sephiroth smiled to himself as he watched her with his scrutinizing jade green eyes from behind his desk. Anne, even at the age of seventeen, was the most mature yet most childish student he had ever had the pleasure of teaching. From her bright sparkling cute blood red eyes to her long ebony, often tangled, hair, Sephiroth had never found himself so…enamoured by another girl. The way those adorable plump lips pouted when she got a question wrong made Sephiroth want to ravish them. Those frilled white socks that she wore nearly every day with black pumps that had ribbons on them always made him smirk. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. His eyes lit up when he saw that she had reached the questions and the way that she was nibbling her lip indicated that she was stuck.  
“May I help you with anything?” he asked and smirked at the way Anne jumped and stared at him in alarm.  
“N-No, sir, I’m fine,” she said but he stood up nonetheless and walked to her, looking over her from behind.  
Sephiroth smiled softly when he caught a whiff of her apple scented perfume and resisted the urge to reach out and stroke her beautiful, smooth, elegant, white neck… As his mind began to fill him with desire and indecent visions, Anne slowly looked up and shivered at the way his eyes gleamed. She shifted away slightly, even more uncomfortable now than she was before. Anne never liked History, not since Mr Dux came during the middle of when she was in Year Ten. She endured those spine-chilling stares and extra help that he would give her whenever he could for two very long years. Her parents didn’t seem to notice the dark fascination that he had over her and encouraged her to continue History after the GCSE course was finished. Anne had so hoped that she wouldn’t have him during Sixth Form so imagine her horror when she had landed in his class…again. Anne was terrified of him.  
“Well you haven’t put enough detail for the first question,” Anne flinched inwardly as his cold voice pierced the silence and held her breath as he leaned over her to take her pen and begin writing on her notebook.  
Sephiroth felt electricity shoot through his body when his fingertips met her hand while Anne felt goosebumps crawl over hers. Sephiroth paused after writing a few notes down to help Anne and observed how the young teenager was shivering violently.  
“Anne, are you cold?” he asked and brushed two fingers down her soft warm neck.  
Anne yelped when his icy fingers came into contact with her skin for the second time and shuffled away.  
“No, no, no, I’m fine, please don’t do that again!” she said quickly and Sephiroth laughed.  
“There is no need to be so jumpy,” he said glancing at the clock.  
Anne took a look at the time herself and whimpered. Forty-five minutes left of detention.  
“Come closer, Anne,” Sephiroth beckoned her closer “Come and tell me what you’re stuck on.”  
He smiled comfortingly and Anne swallowed harshly before shuffling closer to see the question from the textbook.  
****************************************************************************************************************  
“Please, mum, I beg for you to find a History tutor for me,” Anne said as she chased her mother around the kitchen “I’ll be a good girl, I’ll tidy up my room more often, I’ll get a Saturday job, I can even start cooking some meals so you can put up your feet once in a while!”  
“Oh, Anne, please stop being such a nuisance,” Mrs Lockhart sighed and Anne whined more “Look, if you want extra help with your History, I can always ask Mr Dux to come round and give you private lessons.”  
“NO!!!” Anne practically screamed in alarm and cringed to see what it might be like to have her creepy paedophilic teacher here “No, please, mum. I want someone else, Mr Dux makes everything so confusing…”  
“Now, Anne, remember what grade you got in History because of Mr Dux’s extra help?”  
Anne froze, staring at her mother from across the dining table and sighed in defeat.  
“An A*…” she grumbled.  
“There, if you want extra help again then go and ask Mr Dux, I’m sure he’ll say yes.”  
Oh, and Anne was absolutely positive that her History teacher, who she was convinced had a dark obsession over her, would say yes too. Silenced, Anne hunched her shoulders and moodily skulked into the living room. Tifa had just come back from her martial arts training and lay across the sofa, dabbing her forehead with her towel.  
“Can I sit on the sofa please?” Anne asked and Tifa sat up to give her some room.  
“What’s up?” Tifa asked and ruffled her little sister’s hair.  
“I want to have private History lessons so I could try and avoid detentions,” Anne mumbled sulkily “But mum won’t go and look for a tutor for me.”  
“Well why not ask Mr Dux?”  
Anne spluttered and threw her hands up in the air.  
“I’ve had the same conversation with mum, I won’t have it with you!” she snapped.  
“OK, OK,” Tifa said as she shuffled away “Hey, how about I ask Cloud? He’s good at History.”  
“Thanks but I don’t want to be a burden,” Anne mumbled “Plus he’s your boyfriend. You use him.”  
“I will be using him but I’ll use him for your benefit,” Tifa winked “And he’ll do it for free.”  
“Well…” Anne hummed and stared into space for a couple of seconds “I guess I’m more comfortable around him than around Mr Dux or a stranger…”  
“What’s wrong with your History teacher anyway?” Tifa asked with a confused frown.  
“I’m afraid that he might take advantage of me,” Anne mumbled and shuddered at the disturbing thought.  
Tifa laughed and slapped Anne on the shoulder.  
“Oh, Anne don’t worry about it,” she said “He’s a teacher and he won’t take advantage of you.”  
“Tifa,” Anne stared at her sister seriously “Have you met this man? Have you even had a lesson with him? All my classmates can vouch that he has a thing for me!”  
“Anne, stop flattering yourself,” Tifa said with a tired sigh “It’s not just about you. I highly doubt that a full grown man would even take a slight interest in you this early in your life.”  
“But!”  
“Look, this is getting ridiculous,” Tifa grabbed the TV remote to flick the television on “Just forget about it, I’ll text Cloud in the morning and we’ll arrange some private lessons, OK?”  
Anne remained silent as she watched the reality show that was on at the moment with her sister, sitting further back into the sofa with a soft pout. Why wouldn’t any of her family believe her?  
***************  
Sephiroth lay across his sofa, a glass of red wine in his left hand while he clasped a photo in his right. He smiled darkly as he drew small circles with his thumb around Anne’s face.  
“You really are an angel sent from heaven,” he murmured before taking a dainty sip from his glass “What I would do to clip your wings and keep you forever…”  
He licked his lips as he remembered the brief contact that they had earlier that evening. How he yearned for her to touch his face, run her tiny fingers through his hair and hug him like he was the only thing that mattered in her existence. What would it take to have those stunning blood red eyes look up at him with adoration and wonder instead of fear and distrust? What would it take to have her permission to run his fingers through her hair? To have her in his lap as they went through the classwork and homework together? Sephiroth knew there was something special ever since she gave him a smile. It was a beautiful smile. She smiled out of pride when he confirmed that she got a question right and didn’t stop smiling until the end of the lesson. Sephiroth rarely saw her smile nowadays. He often wondered why. And now looking into this photo where she was smiling bashfully to the camera, it aroused him.  
“Anne…”  
Sephiroth let his hand slide down to his stimulated anatomy between the folds of his dressing gown and slowly began to stroke himself. He smiled as he imagined tiny hands pleasuring him, those twinkling eyes staring up at him as he would be lost in the mist of raw pleasure that every human body craved.  
“Soon we shall be together,” he whispered to Anne’s photo “Together. Just you and me.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud comes round to have a tutoring lesson with Anne

Cloud and Anne sat on opposite sides of the kitchen table, Anne staring blankly at the sheets spread out in front of her and Cloud with his elbows propped up on the table, his hands supporting his face as he watched her.  
“I don’t get it,” Anne said after a while and Cloud felt like he was going to smack himself.  
“What is it now?” he asked.  
“I can’t read your writing,” Anne bluntly said and Cloud sighed.  
“What is it that you can’t read?”  
Anne turned one of the sheets to show him and pointed to one of the messy scribbles. Cloud grumbled under his breath as he began explaining to her what he was trying to write about and pushed some questions over to her so she could go over what they had been going through during the past hour. Cloud sat back and tilted his head curiously, watching her as she began reading the questions, twiddling with a strand of hair idly. He hadn’t spent much time with Anne because he had only really been around Tifa. When was the last time he had seen Anne anyway? Two years? Three years? More? He had only started dating Tifa when they were fifteen so he’d been around for four years. Still, he noticed how much Anne has grown up. That flat chest had grown large breasts, not like Tifa’s but Cloud reckoned that Anne’s body hasn’t stopped growing yet. Her hair had gotten longer too. Cloud remembered that her hair went past her shoulders when she was younger, she could sit on it now.  
“Cloud?”  
“Yes?” Cloud shook himself out of his reverie to look at Anne.  
“Why did Major Seito decide to march his army through the marshes instead of around?”  
Cloud smiled warmly and shrugged.  
“I don’t know,” he said.  
“But it’s one of the questions that you’ve set me!”  
“Anne, no-one knows why he decided to march through the marshes,” Cloud calmly explained “It’s unknown. Write that down in your own words.”  
Anne stared at him blankly before finally getting the answer and blushed, hastily scribbling down the answer in her own words. Cloud chuckled softly and folded his arms while watching her write. The blush across her face was just too cute, why couldn’t Tifa blush more often? His fingers twitched softly when he wondered how soft her cheeks were compared to Tifa’s. Heck, now seeing how she had grown up similar to Tifa, Cloud just wanted to compare the sisters now. Their hair length was more or less the same, Anne’s eyes seemed brighter than Tifa’s, Tifa had a more of a build in her body than Anne and she had developed much more than Anne but Anne’s face looked much prettier than Tifa’s…  
“Cloud?”  
“Yeah?”  
“I’m finished.”  
“OK,” Cloud reached over to take the papers off her.  
Anne gathered up the note pages and paused.  
“I wouldn’t mind visiting the salt marshes,” she said “They’re not that far away from here, are they?”  
“Not by bike,” Cloud nodded “I could take you next week perhaps?”  
Anne’s eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.  
“I would love that,” she said with a warm smile that seemed to paralyze Cloud to the spot.  
That’s right, Cloud had rarely seen Anne smile before when she was younger. And what a beautiful smile it was. Cloud felt…achieved to see that smile and couldn’t help but smile back at her.  
“Alright, we’ll go next Saturday,” he nodded.  
“Will Tifa want to come too?”  
Cloud froze at the mention of Tifa and frowned.  
“Well…you might feel like a third wheel if we’re together,” he shrugged and Anne smiled brightly, waving it off.  
“I’ll ask one of my friends to come along too,” she said and Cloud shrugged thoughtfully.  
“Well your sister never liked history, maybe she won’t want to come?” he suggested.  
“Oh, she’ll go anywhere as long as you two are together!” Anne smirked deviously.  
“Uh…”  
Truth to be told, Cloud wanted to spend a bit more time with Anne alone. Just as friends, of course, Cloud was not going to cheat on Tifa. He wasn’t that kind of guy. With a brief pause, staring into her eyes, Cloud smiled and shrugged.  
“We’ll see next week,” he decided “I need to go. I’ll tell you how you’ve done with the questions next week too.”  
“OK!” Anne nodded brightly and walked with him out of the house then gave him a hug “Thank you, Cloud.”  
Cloud hesitated before hugging her back.  
“Hey, we can always nip down to the slums to see what’s in the market,” he offered and Anne grimaced.  
“I’d rather not,” she murmured “I hate crowds.”  
Actually, she was afraid to leave the house. Yep, ever since a very scary encounter with her History teacher in the slums, Anne refused to ever set foot outside of the house unless she had three friends around to protect her. Cloud frowned and tilted his head.  
“Anne, it won’t be rush hour now,” he explained “There won’t be any crowds.”  
“Yeah well, crowds are easily formed down in the slum markets,” Anne said as she shifted on the spot, her eyes darting up and down the streets warily.  
Cloud spotted that action and so did the unseen Sephiroth who stood by his window in his home opposite Anne’s home. Sephiroth sipped his coffee with narrowed eyes. He didn’t move into the house opposite Anne’s on purpose, that was just a simple coincidence that turned out to be a pleasurable one. He could only see Anne’s elder sister’s bedroom window, the living room window and the parents’ bedroom window. It proved to be a disappointment when Sephiroth saw this but seeing Anne early in the morning, sleepy and tired with her hair dishevelled and matted, made it worthwhile. He wouldn’t mind waking up every morning to have her looking like that in his arms. Perhaps slightly more dishevelled than she looked now… When he saw Anne give Cloud, Cloud had been a pupil of his before, a hug he couldn’t help but wonder the relationship between them. He had this nagging feeling that Cloud had a girlfriend already but the way this young man looked at his Anne disturbed him. Anne then looked in his direction and he realised that he had absent-mindedly stepped out of his hiding place and into clear view of the girl. She let out a terrified scream, pointing to him and slamming the door closed. Cloud stumbled back when the wooden surface smacked him right in his nose. He rubbed it with a confused frown and turned around to see what she was pointing at. Sephiroth by that time had stepped out of view and Cloud only saw the house opposite Anne’s.  
“That was…strange,” he commented as he turned back to the door.  
******************************************************************  
“No, no, no, that wasn’t him,” Anne paced around in circles in her room, hands clenched on either side of her head and her chest heaved to take in deep breaths “No, it can’t be him, I’m just going crazy because of him, that was just a trick of the mind…”  
Her footsteps slowed as she stared at her carpet, breathing heavily. She then ran into Tifa’s bedroom and stared out of the window and at the window that she swore she had seen her History teacher standing at. When she didn’t see anyone she took a steady breath and sighed.  
“No, of course, it was just…”  
Her eyes widened in horror when she saw her History teacher in the window opposite the one she was at, in his bedroom. He turned and Anne saw that he had unbuttoned his shirt, exposing some of his chest. He smiled at her when he saw her, walking to his window and opening it. Anne immediately opened her windows.  
“Why are you living opposite me?!” she demanded loudly in the empty street.  
Sephiroth smiled as he leaned out of his.  
“This is just a mere coincidence, Anne,” he said calmly.  
“Yeah, right, move out!” Anne demanded rather shrilly “Move out and get a house far, far away from here!”  
“Anne, you look panicked. Would you like to come over and calm down over a cup of tea?”  
“NO!”  
Anne slammed the windows shut, drew the curtains and ran into her own bedroom to throw herself under her bed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sephiroth devises a plan to abduct Anne

This was nuts. Her freaking stalking creepy strict history teacher was living opposite her. How creepy was that? Oh dear lord, what if her mother finds out and invites him over for tea?! Anne shuddered to herself as she imagined it. Her teacher sitting next to her in the kitchen, drinking a cup of tea and a hand probably up her skirt.  
“NO!!!”  
“Anne?”  
Anne abruptly dropped her script as she came to her senses. Everyone in the Drama Room was staring at her, making her cheeks go bright red.  
“Right, heh…” she muttered as she grabbed her script and cleared her throat “Wrong line…”  
******************************************************************************************  
Sephiroth watched from his sitting room as Anne returned home, only seeing her for two seconds as she ran inside. He chuckled at the way she did so. It was cute to think she was terrified of him. She was like a paranoid little rabbit, the moment she hears, sniffs or senses the slither of danger, even if it might not be harmless at all, she would run to safety. Sephiroth, as the hunter, just had to be careful in catching her.  
“Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run,” he chanted under his breath as he stirred his tea idly “Run until you tire yourself out and then the hunter will have his prey without any mess…”  
He smirked and took a sip of his tea, closing his eyes while breathing in the herbal scent with a satisfied smile.  
“Best to have an unharmed prey to keep.”  
**********************************************  
“Mum, I want to move out, please!” Anne begged as she chased her mum up and down the house as her mum had a basket of laundry in her arms, gathering up dirty clothes “Please, I won’t even move out that far! I could rent an apartment together with one of my friends, like Asa or Bianca, please, mum!”  
“Anne, you’re too young!” Mrs Lockhart said as Anne continued to tail her to the laundry room at the back of the house “I don’t approve of you moving out at such a young age.”  
“I’m seventeen, going on eighteen! Please, mum!”  
“You can’t even clean your room up!” Mrs Lockhart shoved one of Anne’s bra into her face.  
“I take my time,” Anne muttered.  
“And how will you be able to pay off rent for an apartment?”  
“I’ll share with someone else and get a job!” Anne shrugged.  
“And how are you going to get a job, young lady?”  
“Hey, I’m sure the people at Midgar Museum can give me a part time job of some sort! And if not there, perhaps in the library.”  
“Nope, not good enough.”  
“Oh come on, I can sacrifice going to university.”  
“No,” Mrs Lockhart snapped as she slammed the washing machine door after putting the washing in “You, young lady, are going to university.”  
“I’ve told you before, I’m not interested!” Anne whined as the washing machine began moving when it was turned on.  
“You won’t get a good job if you don’t go to university.”  
“But I can do something different! Like perhaps opening a business or be a traveller! Or even better, a bounty hunter! I can earn money by killing monsters and getting monster parts to sell!”  
“Young lady, only boys do that,” Mrs Lockhart barked as she went into the kitchen “You’re an intelligent girl, Anne. Why waste that when you can get a good job which you’ll be happy with and meet a nice man to be your husband?”  
“I just want to move out,” Anne mumbled as she sat down by the kitchen table.  
“Why? Am I not looking after you properly?”  
“You are!”  
“Then why this sudden idea?!”  
Anne stared at her, biting her lip.  
“The man who lives opposite us gives me the creeps,” she murmured “And obviously we can’t convince him to move, you’re happy staying here, I’m perfectly old enough to move out.”  
“You are not,” Mrs Lockhart placed her hands on her hips “Why can’t you live with this man living across the road?”  
“I really can’t, he gives me the creeps and I have this feeling he might rape me in my sleep.”  
“Oh don’t be ridiculous. Ignore him.”  
“I really, really can’t.”  
“You know, I’ll go over and see who this man is.”  
“No!”  
Anne chased her mum to the front door, skidding to a halt at the door and could only watch in horror as Mrs Lockhart crossed the street and arrived at her History teacher’s door, knocking rather loudly. She retreated upstairs and stared out of Tifa’s bedroom window with wide and alarmed blood red eyes. She watched her mother exclaim in surprise as Mr Dux came out and greeted her. They talked and talked and Anne caught her history teacher’s hungry gaze meet with hers when Mrs Lockhart began rambling on and on. That dark smirk crept onto his face and Anne ducked out of view. Her heart raced and her breathing quickened. There was no way that her mother was going to let her move out now.  
“Anne dear!” Mrs Lockhart called as she returned “Mr Dux has agreed to join us for dinner tonight!”  
Dear Gaia, NO!!!!!  
“Anne! Come down and say hello!”  
Anne ran into her bedroom, locking the door and pushing her wardrobe in front of it. She hid under her bed, curling up into a tight ball.  
********************************************************************************************************  
Sephiroth smiled as he heard Anne’s bedroom door slam shut. How cute. Mrs Lockhart sighed tiredly.  
“Honestly, that girl,” she sighed as she led him into the kitchen “Please, make yourself comfortable.”  
Sephiroth sat down by the kitchen table as she switched the kettle on to make some tea.  
“She’s an enigmatic young woman,” he commented.  
“Yes, very stubborn too,” Mrs Lockhart sighed “She has the craziest ideas sometimes. Like there’s someone at school who’s going to kidnap and rape her.”  
Sephiroth laughed with her.  
“She could write some classic novels with imagination like that,” he commented.  
“Oh, she used to write but I managed to stop that habit,” Mrs Lockhart smiled “She needs to focus more on her work, get into a good university and settle down with a nice handsome man.”  
Sephiroth hummed thoughtfully, thinking that he wouldn’t mind being that man. He smiled warmly to Mrs Lockhart as she poured the water into the mugs.  
“Well, why can’t you let your daughter let herself enjoy some time on her own and her imagination?” Sephiroth suggested.  
“Oh, the child shouldn’t let her dreams grow too much,” Mrs Lockhart grimaced “She’ll be in the gutter if she thinks she’ll be able to cope on her own. Four years in university should help her grow up and she should have found a career to follow, someone to settle down with and living in reality.”  
Sephiroth just listened to Mrs Lockhart ramble on and on about what her daughter must do when she grows up. He stared up the stairs thoughtfully, wondering if Anne might be happier if he took her into his care. Stirring his tea lazily, he remembered that he had to visit his father soon. Perhaps this weekend, or maybe tonight? Sephiroth grimaced to himself as he continued pretending to be listening to Anne’s mother. The nurse said he wasn’t going to make it any longer, the man was getting older. There was a fairly good inheritance, including his father’s mansion in Wutai and a few million Gil in the bank, lined up for him but he hadn’t really thought of a use for that… Sephiroth’s head suddenly flashed an image of him and Anne living in Wutai and he’d be able to go and get a job at Wutai University which will pay him more than working at a secondary school. Anne would be able to do what she liked if they lived together which meant no nagging from her mother about how she should live her life. She would be free.   
Sephiroth smiled kindly as he received a biscuit from Mrs Lockhart for his tea. He continued plotting right in front of her, putting on the act of pretending to listen. He would have to move to a different school when his father died, which should be during the Easter holidays, so Anne would lower her guard. After that he will take her to Wutai after moving and getting a job, right before the start of the academic year. Details of getting her over to Wutai will be confirmed when the time comes. Sipping his tea thoughtfully, Sephiroth decided to get to know Anne a bit more.  
“I think Anne is still struggling a little bit with the new syllabus,” Sephiroth said once he found a gap in between Mrs Lockhart’s conversation “I suggest that I give her tutoring lessons seeming as I live only opposite you.”  
“Oh that’s a brilliant idea!” Mrs Lockhart exclaimed “Oh, Anne will be pleased! She’s always loved History!”  
“I think Saturdays would be a good day to tutor her,” Sephiroth proposed “Starting tomorrow, ten o’clock in the morning?”  
“Oh that’s brilliant. Anne hardly gets out of the house nowadays.”  
“So it’s agreed.”  
Sephiroth smiled widely. He looked forward to tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sephiroth has Anne over for their first tutoring session. Warning: A bit perverted at the end.

“I refuse to go into that madman’s house!”  
“He kindly offered to spend his time to tutor you privately and he’s not even charging any Gil!”  
“I am staying here!”  
“I’ve had it with your attitude towards your education, young lady!”  
“I DON’T WANT TO GET RAPED!!!”  
********************************  
Despite Anne’s vigorous arguing against going into her History teacher’s abode, it fell on deaf ears for her mother. Soon enough she was on his doorstep equipped with a notepad and pen, ready for her first tutoring session in hell. Anne stared at the notepad, silently wishing that it was bigger and heavier than it was so she could knock out her History teacher and run as far as possible. Could she run now? No, not with her mother by the kitchen window, watching her every move. Anne felt really uncomfortable and her stomach was going to churn her up breakfast and send it back up her throat so she could spoil his front door. Anne nearly fainted when the door abruptly clicked and swung open. She shivered as Sephiroth towered over her with a satisfied smile.  
“Anne, come in,” he said and stepped back to let her in.   
Anne’s legs didn’t move. She refused to move one inch and enter her teacher’s home. Sephiroth tilted his head as he watched her expectantly. Anne felt the burning glare of her mother’s eyes focused on the back of her head and forced her legs to work. Like a robot, she marched into the house and the sound of the door closing sounded louder than it should.  
“Would you like a cup of tea?”  
No! Don’t accept anything from teachers that might want to rape you! But as soon as Anne opened her mouth to reject…  
“I got a new brew recently, why don’t you try it?”  
Anne stared as she realised that he had made the offer rhetorical, he was going to be making her a cup of tea whether she liked it or not. Closing her mouth slowly she stood rooted to the spot as Sephiroth went into the kitchen. A few minutes later, Anne heard the kettle boiling and Sephiroth came back out.  
“Let’s go to the living room,” he smiled and placed a hand on her back.  
“I can get there by myself!” Anne suddenly said, jumping at the contact and running into the living room, seating herself on the sofa.  
Sephiroth chuckled, loving her adorable reactions to him.  
“Now, I suggest for us to go ahead of the class,” he said as he came over “So let’s skip the Battle of Kalm and go straight to the early days of the tribes in Cosmo Canyon.”  
“But isn’t that favouritism, sir?” Anne asked and jumped to the other side of the sofa once Sephiroth sat next to her.  
“No, it’s being considerate about my students,” Sephiroth smiled kindly “You are doing brilliantly in the Battle of Kalm now, the lesson would be too short if we went through the topic.”  
He pushed a textbook over towards her.  
“Read Chapter 5, page 54,” he said and left to go to the kitchen.  
Anne shakily picked the textbook up and turned to page 54. The words just seemed to lie there on the page instead of picking up and registering in her brain. She was shaking like a leaf and found that she couldn’t concentrate without imaging her traumatizing dark rape and brutal murder. She jumped when a teacup was set down on the coffee table in front of her.  
“Here, this will calm you down,” Sephiroth smiled and Anne shook her head.  
“I can’t, I’m f-fine, I’ve had a d-drink before I came…” she stuttered.  
“I insist, it will warm you up as well.”  
Anne stared at the cup of tea warily. She didn’t trust him at all but she could smell how fragrant the tea was from her position. She carefully picked up the cup of tea and pressed it to her lips, drinking. It was sweet so she eventually drank all of it. Sephiroth began talking once she set the cup down and she tried to focus on the textbook. Slowly, Sephiroth’s voice began to go deep and distorted and Anne frowned when the words began mixing together and she began to feel rather dizzy. She looked up, trying to blink away the blur in her eyes. The last thing she heard and saw before she went into darkness was:  
“Are you alright, Anne?” Sephiroth’s figure loomed over her and Anne flinched when she felt his cold hand cup her cheek.  
Sephiroth grinned in delight as Anne went limp and fell right into his arms. He cradled her and ran his fingers through her soft hair. He didn’t expect her to drink all of it but it meant that the drug would last longer. He had about two hours until she started waking up. He leaned down and kissed her brow.   
“Let’s get started, shall we?” he smiled and turned her around to her front and pulled her top up.  
He took her bra size and measured her sizes, noting them down on his notepad. He would order her new clothes for her when they moved into their new home. Sephiroth knew what products she used to wash her hair so that wasn’t a problem. He picked her up and went upstairs to his bedroom, lying with her and cradling her into his arms and nuzzling her.  
“So warm,” he murmured and smirked “So vulnerable…”  
He pressed his clothed erection against her and smirked.  
“Mine…”  
***********  
Anne woke up on the sofa with Sephiroth in an armchair, her head was still spinning but her alarm bells were ringing in her head loud and clear. She propped herself onto her elbows and stared at him in alarm.  
“You drugged me!” she accused straight off the bat.  
“Excuse me?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.  
“What did you do to me?” Anne jumped straight off the sofa and began patting herself up and down frantically.  
“I did nothing, Anne. Did you get any sleep last night? You suddenly dropped off to sleep when we began the session.”  
“You drugged me and you did something to me!” Anne accused and ran out in a panic.  
Sephiroth sighed and leaned back, watching her high tail herself to the slums market. He closed his eyes and smirked, lacing his fingers together.  
“Yes, I drugged you,” he murmured “Yes, I may have taken advantage of you…”  
He pulled out pictures of her naked body in his bed with a smirk.  
“But who will believe you?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Luka, Anne's school crush

Anne wanted to scream. She wanted to shout and cry. She wanted to steal a gun from the weapons stall so she could kill her creepy history teacher. That’s where she had found herself. Staring at all the fancy weapons on display, under the watchful eye of the stall owner.  
“You alright, little missy?” he asked and Anne nodded.  
“I want to be a bounty hunter when I’m a bit older,” she replied.  
“Ah, well, you’ve got to be eighteen for that profession,” the burly man chuckled “How old are you? Fourteen?”  
“Seventeen,” Anne gave him an annoyed look “Eighteen in January.”  
“You certainly act and look younger,” he chuckled again and Anne huffed, fingering one of the rifles.  
“Can I take lessons in using these things?” she asked.  
“Not with guns, I’m afraid,” he shrugged, wiping some crumbs off his bushy moustache “Could give you a couple of lessons with a pepper spray though.”  
“No, that won’t do,” Anne sighed then looked over at the swords “What about them?”  
“Nope, but maybe a small dagger…” the man hummed.  
“Hm…how much are your daggers?” Anne asked whilst tilting her head to the side.  
“Six hundred Gil,” the man replied and Anne sighed softly in frustration.  
“I only get forty Gil every month…” she muttered.  
“Tell you what, you might be able to do a couple of bounty jobs in the slum with a Materia bracer,” the man shrugged and tossed her one loaded with Ice and Fire Materia “You can borrow this one for today and you can pay a hundred Gil later.”  
“You’re trusting me with this?” Anne yelped as she managed to catch the bracer.  
“I’ll put even a little girl like you on a wanted list,” the man pulled a serious face and Anne swallowed as she clasped the Materia bracer on her wrist.  
After testing the Materia, Anne thanked him and ran off to the bounty hunter board in the centre of the slums. She began looking for a reward that offered over a hundred Gil and her finger led to a simple monster killing in the slums. Her finger bumped into someone else’s. She froze when she recognized the fingerless glove and looked up.  
“Luka!” she gasped.  
Luka smiled down at her and Anne swore she could have melted. Luka was so beautiful. Who could not love his bright silver eyes and his lustrous black hair? He was so toned as well, all the girls simply adored him and Anne admired him in their Drama class. He was such a good actor.  
“Good morning, Anne,” he smiled and saw her bracer “Oh? Are you hoping to get into the bounty hunter profession?”  
“Well, I was finding a possible way to defend myself and to get enough money for a dagger, I could do a few jobs with this Materia bracer that I borrowed off the weapons stall guy which I need to pay him a hundred Gil so I can keep it and do a couple of jobs in my spare time,” Anne said in one breath and gasped for air.  
“You’re so amusing,” Luka chuckled and Anne flushed brightly “Would you like any help?”  
Anne took a look at his large black broadsword that he held.  
“You’re eighteen, aren’t you?” she remembered “It must have cost quite a bit to buy that sword.”  
“Actually it’s my dad’s,” Luka chuckled and lifted it over his shoulder “He got it from Wutai when he married my mother.”  
“Wow…” Anne murmured in awe.  
Luka smiled to himself. A lot of girls had this reaction to him when he talked about himself. Anne was the only one who seemed to listen.  
“So…I guess you’ll pass that down to your son in time?” Anne suggested with the tilt of her head.  
“Or daughter, if she wants it,” Luka shrugged.  
Anne looked dazed about the fact he wasn’t as sexist as other boys. Luka smirked deviously.  
“Let’s go on a job together,” he suggested and picked one from the top of the board.  
Anne looked at it and balked.  
“There have been multiple sightings of Tongas in the slums?” she whispered.  
“We’ll be able to split the money,” Luka said “Five hundred between us is two hundred and fifty Gil each.”  
“Luka, you’re so generous,” Anne looked up at him with sparkly eyes.  
Luka admired this look to Anne briefly before leading her further into the slums.  
******************************************************************************  
Cloud was at motorbike maintenance station when he saw Anne walking alongside a stranger. He was going to go up to them and say hi when he saw the glow in Anne’s face as she talked to this strange boy. She was wearing a Materia bracer which struck Cloud as odd. Anne didn’t know how to use Materia…did she? Cloud folded his arms and leaned by the wall of the station, watching them go by. He didn’t miss the way Anne’s hand swung and somehow got caught in the boy’s.  
“Mr Strife, sir?”  
Cloud grunted in acknowledgement when the man said his bike was ready and paid him the right amount of money. He got onto it and revved his engine. He drove after Anne and the boy, stopping when he had caught up.  
“Hello, Anne,” he smiled and Anne smiled back.  
“Hi, Cloud,” she said “This is Luka.”  
“Nice to meet you,” Luka smiled in a friendly manner.  
“The feeling is mutual,” Cloud nodded “So, Anne, are you ready to go to the salt marshes?”  
“Oh, sorry, Cloud,” Anne’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment “But I need to earn a bit of money so I can keep this bracer. Perhaps tomorrow?”  
“Salt marshes?” Luka raised his eyebrows “I need to go there for a Biology project.”  
“Oh, we could go together!” Anne chirruped happily “Me, Tifa, Cloud and Luka, it would be a double date if Luka and I were going out.”  
She giggled at her little joke and Luka chuckled a little bit. Cloud smiled politely.  
“We’ll see,” he said and drove off.  
*********************************  
“I got a Materia bracer!” Anne chanted as she and Luka got off the train and began going to Anne’s home “And a hundred and fifty Gil in the bank! I’ll have a dagger in no time!”  
Luka chuckled.  
“…You know, we could be partners,” he offered.  
“Really?” Anne looked up at him and paused on the street.  
“Sure,” Luka nodded “We could take on harder jobs and get more money.”  
“That would be great!” Anne smiled then faltered “Oh, what’s my mother going to think?”  
“Just say that you’re saving up for university fees,” Luka shrugged after hearing the story about Anne’s mother.  
“She’ll say that bounty hunting’s too dangerous,” Anne groaned.  
“Well tell her to go suck on a lemon.”  
They laughed together and when they got to Anne’s house, Luka couldn’t help but give a small kiss on Anne’s head.  
“You’re like a cute little sister,” he grinned when he realised what he had done.  
Anne looked somewhat disheartened but smiled back anyway.  
“See you tomorrow?” Luka tilted his head to the side.  
“Yeah, tomorrow.”  
As Luka left, Anne couldn’t help but let out a dreamy sigh. An action not missed by the glowering history teacher on the other side of the street.


	7. Chapter 7

Sephiroth was conflicted on what he should feel at the moment. He was enraged when he saw Anne had returned home after fleeing his house to see that arrogant little brat place his lips upon her head. He never liked Luka, he was from a rather wealthy family but was kicked out of his old school when he beat up a couple of boys for trying it on with his twin sister, Luna. Luna left the school as well because they often caused trouble when they were apart. Sephiroth gritted his teeth as he watched the delinquent walk off and Anne seemed to swoon after him. Luka was no good for Anne! He was trouble, cocky and a sneaky little playboy! Sephiroth suddenly didn’t want to leave the school for the university place in Wutai, in case Luka tried it on with Anne.  
However, his father had just passed away earlier this afternoon. Once the will has been read out, Sephiroth should be able to take his inheritance, leave the school and move to Wutai where he could prepare for Anne moving in with him. Sephiroth felt relieved, anxious and excited. There were two weeks until the Easter holidays, plenty of time to prepare. Sephiroth sighed, shaking his head and stirring his tea.  
“It’s alright,” he whispered to himself to calm down “Anne may be naïve but she will be safe.”  
Yes, with her Asperger Syndrome Anne may be tricked by Luka but she won’t give herself to him easily. Even if it does look like she has a massive crush on the good for nothing negligent. Sephiroth pulled out a picture of Anne and sighed happily as he saw those sparkling red eyes.  
“Everything will be alright,” he murmured with a nod.  
*******************************************************************************************  
Tifa smirked as Anne sighed again, stirring her spaghetti around thoughtfully. Anne had those dreamy eyes. The same dreamy eyes Tifa once possessed when Cloud had asked her out for the first time. Their mother was out with her new boyfriend so the two sisters were alone at home with the dinner they made together. Tifa was aware that their mother was a bit wary if Anne ever got into a relationship, the poor girl was delicate with her Asperger Syndrome. But Tifa was sure Anne found someone nice, caring and understanding if she was this much in a state.  
“Hey, Anne,” she said and Anne broke out of her reverie “Who is it?”  
“Hm?”  
“You can tell me,” Tifa teased and Anne blinked at her blankly.  
“Tell you what?”  
Tifa snickered, she loved messing around with Anne’s little head.  
“Who are you daydreaming about?”  
Anne’s cheeks flushed and she looked down with burning cheeks.  
“Well, I’m trying to figure out Zerenity’s character a bit more but…I can’t seem to concentrate,” she pouted.  
“And why’s that?”  
Anne then told her about her day with getting the Materia bracer and taking on small bounty hunter jobs.  
“Well, thank goodness you’re not injured!” Tifa said and doubled checked to see that Anne was indeed unharmed “How about I come with you next time? I understand why you would like to carry a dagger around, you can never be too careful.”  
“It’s fine, Tifa,” Anne seemed thrilled to hear Tifa’s support “Luka’s my partner, he’s really good at fighting and defending.”  
“Luka?”  
Tifa frowned and Anne’s stomach dropped.  
“Luka Kelly?”  
Anne nodded warily and Tifa groaned.  
“Oh, Anne!” she murmured.  
“I know you don’t like him!” Anne snapped as she stood up and Tifa blinked in surprise “But…he’s really nice, Tifa. Luna is a very good friend too and I know he isn’t all that bad.”  
“But he’s such a playboy!” Tifa argued “He tried hitting on me once! He’ll go for any good looking girl and you’re just vulnerable!”  
“I’m not so vulnerable with my Materia bracer!” Anne flexed her fingers “I can take care of myself. Please, Tifa.”  
“I don’t know…” Tifa grimaced.  
“He’s got a Biology project over at the salt marshes,” Anne suddenly spoke “Cloud said he’d take us to see the salt marshes for a History trip and it’s been a while since he took you on a date so how about you get to know Luka and spend some time with Cloud at the same time?”  
Tifa paused for a minute, swaying as the information spun around her head and sighed.  
“Alright, I’ll call Cloud and ask,” she said “Just be careful around Luka. I worry for you.”  
Anne grinned and hugged Tifa happily. Tifa smiled softly but still felt a bit uneasy about Luka.  
*******************************************************************************************  
Anne held her breath when she saw Luka waiting outside for their History class. He gave her a smile and the colour increased in Anne’s cheeks. Luka walked over to her and Anne bit her lip when her heartbeat began racing excitedly. She smelt his deodorant and looked up at him shyly.  
“Good morning, Anne,” he smiled and Anne felt the stares from other girls.  
Taking a deep breath, she smiled back.  
“Good morning, Luka,” she replied as cool as possible.  
Anne felt her neck sweat when she heard whispers from some of the younger years. Luka didn’t just walk up to any girl to say good morning. The only girl he had a personal relationship with was Luna and Anne wanted to just back away.  
“Anne!”  
Anne turned and giggled as Luna hugged her.  
“I want to see the totally cool Materia bracer Luka’s been telling me about,” she said and Anne scoffed.  
“It’s not totally cool,” she said.  
“Oh yeah, I need help with understanding Lady Selena’s marriage to Lord Damon, I’ll be steamed alive if my grades drop in History!” Luna moaned as Sephiroth’s last class walked out of his classroom and everyone stepped to the side for them to get past.  
“How about you sit next to us for today?” Luka suggested and Anne gasped.  
“But that would be violating the seating plan!”  
Sephiroth hated any form of violations. But Luka shrugged.  
“It’ll be fine, I’m sure Jade won’t mind.”  
Luka and Anne looked at Jade, who normally sat between the twins. Jade caught their look, looked at Anne and smirked, winking.  
“Just remember to use protection,” she said and Anne spluttered whilst the twins laughed.  
*******************************************************************************************  
The register was done, the lesson plan was up and everything else was ready for the start of the lesson. But when Sephiroth looked up, he raised an eyebrow when he saw the jade green eyes belonging to Jade rather than the blood coloured eyes belonging to Anne.  
“Miss Brown?”  
“Yes, sir?”  
“Why are you not in your seat?”  
“Anne wanted to sit next to her new boyfriend~!” Jade teased.  
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Anne spluttered and sunk down into her seat.  
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes as he saw Anne wedged between the Kelly twins at the back row. Setting his jaw, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  
“I will let it slide,” he said and opened his eyes to see the surprised looks of his students “After all, these next two weeks will be my last in this school.”  
“You’re leaving, sir?!”  
There was an outburst of chatter and Sephiroth’s eyes located the relieved look Anne’s face held and forced back a smirk. Her guard was lowered, she may now relaxed and Sephiroth can quietly and smoothly sweep her away when the moment was right. Sephiroth lowered his eyes where he could see Anne’s thumbnail picture in the register. Only six more months.


	8. Chapter 8

“Cloud!”  
Cloud smiled as he pushed his goggles up as Anne ran happily out of the house to greet him. He ruffled the younger girl’s hair as she began talking about what they were going to do when they were at the salt marshes. It had taken a couple of weeks but they’re finally going off to the salt marshes for a visit. Cloud saw Tifa coming out in her beige outfit that he quite liked since they got together in Nibelheim. She smiled at him and he smiled back.  
“So, am I carrying you both behind me?” he asked as the Tifa combed through Anne’s hair briefly with her fingers.  
“I don’t see why I can take Anne.”  
The group looked up to see Luka arriving with his motorbike. Cloud raised an eyebrow at him.  
“Really, you call that a motorbike?” he taunted and Tifa giggled.  
“Well I’m not compensating for anything,” Luka answered back with a shrug which made Tifa giggle louder.  
“…What?”  
Cloud saw the very blank look on Anne’s face as she didn’t understand what Luka was hinting at. Luka opened his mouth to explain but Tifa slapped a hand on Anne’s shoulder.  
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, protecting her little sister’s innocence “Are you sure you can’t take me with you instead?”  
“Tifa!” Anne whined and pushed her hand off her shoulder “I can go with Luka, it’s not like he’ll do anything on the way there.”  
Anne walked up to Luka who handed her a helmet. Cloud grimaced sheepishly as he realised he didn’t use helmets but Tifa didn’t seem to mind too much as she got onto Fenrir behind him and hugged his waist. Anne, after getting the helmet on with Luka’s help, got on behind Luka and hugged his waist. Luka revved his engine and gave a smirk to Cloud.  
“Race ya,” he said before speeding away, making Anne let out a loud scream in surprise.  
Cloud and Tifa coughed in the fumes he left behind and Cloud revved his engine.  
“Hold on,” he said to Tifa before racing after Luka.  
*******************************************************  
Luka eventually slowed down when they reached outside of Midgar when he lost sight of Cloud and Tifa. Anne seemed to relax a little as she sensed the change in speed and hit a tiny fist into his back.  
“Don’t scare me like that!” she whined.  
Luka chuckled and squeezed her wrist that was around him comfortingly.  
“Don’t worry, it’s alright,” he assured her and he felt Anne shake her head as she sighed.  
She rested her head on his back as he steered through the fields and saw them approaching Kalm.  
“We can stop and wait for them there,” he said “Your sister seemed pretty protective over you.”  
“Hn, it’s because I have Asperger Syndrome,” Anne scowled “And I’m a bit dense.”  
“Asperger Syndrome, huh?” Luka muttered “My mother has that.”  
“Really?”  
Luka noted how Anne tightened her grip around his chest and smiled.  
“Yes, she wasn’t that affected but she did have trouble finding someone to settle down with because no-one understood her.”  
They arrived just outside of Kalm and Luka looked down at Anne as she tried to get the helmet off. He helped her undo the clasp and took the helmet off. His fingers lingered underneath her chin and Anne looked up at him with those innocent red eyes. A light blush went across her cheeks and he reached out to feel her soft skin that was warm to touch. An engine revving loudly made them jump apart and they saw Cloud and Tifa approaching them. Anne giggled and Luka smirked to himself as he took his helmet off.  
***************************************  
Tifa watched as Anne stirred her milkshake and watched Luka outside fuelling his motorbike with Cloud. Tifa wasn’t sure how to feel, Anne looked absolutely smitten with Luka. Tifa clenched her fists. She was still uneasy about Luka.  
“Anne, why Luka?” she asked which made Anne snap her gaze to her.  
Anne blushed and shrugged.  
“Well, I’ve known him for a while now, Luna is a good friend and he’s so nice,” Anne sighed and sipped her milkshake daintily “And he’s good looking too.”  
“Please, the guy has tattoos on his arms!” Tifa scowled at the black inked biceps.  
“Those are traditional warrior tattoos that Luka’s father had done to him when he was sixteen,” Anne explained while holding down a growl at Tifa.  
Tifa jumped when Anne’s glass cracked and noted the Materia bracer that had the new Summon Materia that Luka gave her. Tifa wasn’t sure which Summon it was but she didn’t want to know. Anne had gotten better at mastering Materia and she even got the dagger but she was still sneaking out of the house to be with Luka.  
“You know, I didn’t like Cloud very much when you started to go out with him,” Anne growled and Tifa slightly backed away from Anne, Anne was prone to lashing out when she got too angry “But I still had to endure him coming to our place, reeking of cologne, arguing at the TV when he watched the Chocobo races and the squeaky creaking of your bed that kept me awake for half the night!”  
“Oh, Gaia,” Tifa muttered as she felt her face flare up and covered her eyes.  
“You won’t even let Luka into the house, why do you have to hate him so much?!”  
The sisters yelped as Anne accidentally smashed the glass completely in her hand. Tifa stared at the bloody and wet hand in horror as Anne apologized and gave some Gil to compensate for the glass to the waitress. The door opened and Luka came in, his eyes wide.  
“Oh, Anne,” he said as he saw Anne grab a napkin to clean her hand up “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have given you that Odin Materia.”  
“You gave her Odin?” Tifa stood from her place and glared Luka square into the eyes “Do you know how dangerous that is for her?!”  
“I’m sorry, I thought it would be a good Summon to start with teaching her how to use Summons,” Luka said as Cloud came in.  
“You want to teach her how to use Summons?” Cloud said with narrowed eyes “How could you think about that? That’s really dangerous.”  
“Stop…” Anne whispered.  
“You’re bad news for Anne,” Tifa pushed him “How long will you keep her until you find a new toy to play with?”  
“Excuse me?” Luka frowned at her.  
“Stop it.”  
“Luka, perhaps you should head home,” Cloud suggested “I don’t think it was a good idea for you to come.”  
“But…”  
“Just get out of here!” Tifa demanded.  
“Stop it!”  
Tifa stumbled as a small hand smacked her around the face and left a stinging handprint on her cheek. She rubbed it and stared down at Anne as her little sister breathed harshly, tears streaming down her cheeks.  
“I am not a child!” she shouted “Why do you have to be like Mom?! I can’t understand why you can’t get along with Luka! I had to put up with him!”  
She pointed an accusing finger at Cloud who shot the younger Lockhart a hurt look. Anne’s hand curled up into a fist and her arm shook.  
“It’s not fair,” she whispered “Why can’t I have Luka as a friend? He’s a good friend, my best friend even. I…I just want to have more friends, get out and socialise more. Like Mom keeps saying.”  
Tifa stepped back as power surged through the Materia bracer as Anne prepared to attack her. But it faded as Luka grabbed her wrist and Anne turned to Luka.  
“Anne, no, don’t attack your sister,” he soothed and snapped the Materia bracer off.  
Tifa didn’t like the way Anne suddenly went all tame and rubbed her wrist softly. Luka took her hand and led her out where they mounted his bike and drove off. Cloud was about to go after them but Tifa snatched his wrist.  
“Take me with you,” she whispered.  
*************************************  
Luka held Anne’s hands as they ascended the rocky steps into one of the caves into the cliff. Anne knelt before Luka after they went deeper into the cave and Luka took her wrist to rub the marks from where the bracer had been.  
“Anne, how often do you take your bracer off?”  
Anne flinched and bowed her head.  
“I keep it on all the time now…” she confessed “It’s just so comfortable and I feel safe with it.”  
Luka took the Odin Materia out and grimaced as he held it up to the light that came from the top of the cave.  
“Maybe we should go for a weaker Summon,” he murmured and held the bracer up “It’s not healthy to keep this on all the time, Anne. At least take it off for an eight hour break period every day.”  
“OK,” Anne nodded sheepishly.  
Luka pocketed the Odin Materia and leaned against the cave wall.  
“I thought Odin would be perfect,” he said “He would always look after you whenever you’re in trouble, so I figured you’d be safe.”  
Anne bowed her head and Luka sighed.  
“Can I see your hand?”  
Anne held out her injured hand and Luka carefully examined the cuts.  
“What did Tifa say?” he asked and Anne felt tears form in her eyes.  
“She just criticised your tattoos, she still thinks you’re a delinquent who wants to sleep with me then ditch me, feeling heartbroken,” she muttered “It’s not fair. I didn’t like Cloud when she went out with him. Why can’t she accept my choice in friends?”  
“Maybe she’s jealous, I am more handsome than Cloud after all,” Luka smirked and Anne giggled, shoving him lightly.  
“Luka!”  
Anne’s giggles echoed off the cave. She sighed softly and leaned back.  
“Do you think we’d be able to manage a relationship?” she asked.  
“Well, why not?” Luka shrugged “We spend a lot of time together and have a bit in common, why can’t we be in a relationship?”  
Anne blushed lightly and fiddled with her fingers. Luka smirked and crawled up to her, pressing her back into the cave wall.  
“Anne Lockhart,” he said as Anne held her breath “Will you go out with me?”  
Anne giggled shyly and closed her eyes.  
“No.”  
“What?” Luka frowned and backed away uncertainly.  
Anne laughed a bit louder.  
“Of course!” she giggled and hugged him “Of course I’ll go out with you!”  
Luka took a moment to register before hugging her back.  
“Little minx,” he muttered and Anne just grinned at him.  
He kissed her head softly and Anne snuggled into him with a light blush.  
************************************************************************  
Sephiroth ran his fingers along the wooden crate after filling it with a mattress and a pillow. A white dress hung from its place on the hook on the opposite wall with several artificial flowers, an artificial flower headband and an artificial flower bouquet. He smirked. Just a little longer.


	9. Chapter 9

Anne was in her own personal heaven for the next few months. Luka was such a romantic boyfriend. They would go on bounty missions together then afterwards he would treat her to a dinner and a walk underneath the stars. He bought her jewellery too along with little ribbons for her hair and tiny accessories to stick to her Materia bracer. Anne bought him little presents too, such has chains to attach to his sword handle, studs to go into his pierced ear and snacks. Anne was most definitely in love with Luka’s smile the most. It made her feel giddy and melt, knowing that she successfully amused him. Anne also felt rather smug at the jealousy going around the school when it got out that she and Luka were an item. She felt guilty about feeling pleased at the jealous glares the other girls shot her but who could blame her? Mr Dux was long gone and Anne felt like she could conquer the world! Anne didn’t realise how much weight had been lifted off her shoulders until she caught herself skipping to a History lesson. She never skipped to lessons.  
Their new teacher, Miss Gainsborough, was an angel. She was lovely, understanding and she worked at a pace that Anne was comfortable with. And now Anne had the opportunity to sit with Luka, he helped her with her History work so there was no need to ask Cloud to come round to give her tuition. Granted, Anne had to go over to Luka’s house which was a bit far away but she was with Luna too so the three of them could all work together on their homework. Tifa still refused to have Luka set foot into the house and Anne was still angry at her for attacking Luka and accusing him that he was intending to rape and leave her. Oh, and when their mother got involved with Anne’s relationship affairs, Anne nearly screamed the house down.  
“You’re too young for a relationship!”  
“I don’t think he’s the kind of boyfriend you’re looking for.”  
“What if you get pregnant with his child?”  
It was so much pressure on the poor girl. Anne wanted to make her own decisions, she wanted to take charge of her future and she wanted to be able to have a little bit more freedom. Tifa was younger than Anne when she started a relationship with Cloud, Cloud was pretty much a delinquent until he actually grew up and Tifa didn’t even wait for the third date to sleep with him. Anne and Luka decided to not have a sexual relationship. Anne was never keen about the idea of sex. It was painful for girls, it was intrusive for them and Anne was afraid of how she would change if she did lose her virginity. Luka was so understanding when she brought up the subject and he even suggested that they should engage in sexual intercourse if they believe that the relationship would survive to the point where they would live together. Anne felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have Luka.  
“Oh, sure, you feel like the top of the world!” Tifa ranted one dinner time as she and Anne got caught up in yet another argument “But just wait until you turn your back on him. He’s not trustworthy, believe me.”  
“Speaking from personal experience?” Anne sneered before snatching her Materia bracer and storming out of the kitchen “I’m leaving for the slums.”  
“You get back in this house, young lady!” Mrs Lockhart screamed.  
“Anne, haven’t you been listening to me?!” Tifa shouted.  
“Is this about Jeremy?!” Mrs Lockhart continued raising her voice as she came down the stairs as soon as Anne reached the doorstep with her coat “Because if it is…”  
“Please, at least I’m not accusing your ancient boyfriend of being a two-timing, bitch-faced, fag,” Anne said as she repeated Tifa’s words from earlier on.  
“Don’t you dare use that foul language in this house! I swear, he is setting a bad example to you!”  
“No he’s not, because I learned that language from Tifa!” Anne snapped and Tifa felt her cheeks burn.  
“That’s it, I’m at my limit!” Mrs Lockhart shrieked “Don’t you dare come back here, because I won’t let you in!”  
Anne slammed the door and sighed deeply.  
“Sure, that’s what you said last night,” she muttered before zipping up her coat, checking if she had the house key then sprinted down to the slums.  
The stalls were just packing up as she wandered down to the playground, where she and Luka met up every night. She smiled warmly when she saw him at the top of the climbing frame and jumped up to snuggle next to him.  
“Hey there, beautiful,” he purred as he slung an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead “What’s wrong? Your lips are more pouty than usual.”  
“Shut up,” Anne scowled and leaned her head on his chest “Well, another argument with Tifa and Mom.”  
Luka sighed impatiently and stared up at the Upper Plate. He cleared his throat.  
“Oh, he’s such a flirt and a playboy,” he imitated Tifa and Anne giggled “I mean, he didn’t even glance at me when I spilt my drink down my top. He’s so rude!”  
Anne giggled harder as he cleared his throat again.  
“Oh, he’s six months older than you,” he imitated Mrs Lockhart “You shouldn’t date boys who are too old for you. They might rape you!”  
“Stop, stop, I’m going to wet myself,” Anne giggled hysterically and Luka smirked, hugging her close.  
Anne sighed and buried her face into his chest as he buried his nose into her hair.  
“Dumbapple?” he murmured.  
“Surprise,” Anne murmured back and he buried his nose deeper “…Strawberries?”  
“I know you love strawberries,” Luka said as he ran his fingers through her hair.  
“But it’s such a feminine scent,” Anne mumbled “It doesn’t suit you.”  
Luka huffed.  
“Sexist.”  
He yelped as Anne nipped his ear and giggled. They pulled away and Anne felt herself blush as she stared into his beautiful silver eyes. Luka cupped her cheek and ran his thumb over her cheekbone.   
“Luka?” Anne whispered.  
“Yeah?”  
Anne leaned up and kissed his lips shyly. Luka’s eyes widened slightly and he kissed back. A thrill rushed through him as he held Anne close. He was giving Anne her first kiss! They parted after a few seconds and Luka smirked.  
“Your cheeks might start to steam if they blush any deeper,” he said and Anne hunched her shoulders shyly.   
Closing her eyes, Anne leaned forward and pressed her ear to his heart. Luka tucked her head under his chin and hugged her tightly, closing his eyes and smiling.  
“Anne, I love you.”  
Anne’s heart rate picked up at the same time as Luka’s. She looked up at him to see him staring down at her with that loving gaze that was only reserved for her. She smiled back.  
“I love you too, Luka.”  
A tear rolled down her cheek and Luka’s eyes widened, lifting Anne’s face gently.  
“Anne, what’s the matter?” he asked.  
“Why do they hate you so much?” Anne squeaked and rubbed her eyes “It’s not fair. Even if you do rape and leave me, I won’t care. At least I would have had a boyfriend whom I loved with all my heart. I can’t understand why they think I’m too young and not ready for a relationship.”  
Luka kissed her tears away.  
“Ssh,” he whispered “It doesn’t matter. They don’t matter. Only us.”  
Anne looked up at him and smiled before bowing her head. Luka held her hand.  
“Shall I walk you home?”  
“Please.”  
The journey was silent. Anne enjoyed the feeling of having Luka’s hand securely wrapped around her tiny one. She never wanted to let go. She wanted this walk to last forever. To be with Luka forever. Before Anne realised it, she was already picturing their wedding day. But shaking her head, she decided against it. She knew the cruel reality that school relationships never lasted for long. So she intended to make every moment with Luka count. Soon, Anne was at her doorstep and Luka was giving her a kiss goodbye.  
“See you tomorrow at school,” he murmured.  
“Yeah,” Anne nodded with a bright smile.  
Luka gave her a tender kiss on the lips and walked back down the street. Anne felt herself swoon after him again and smiled shyly.  
“I love you,” she whispered to the night.  
She turned and felt through her pockets for the house key. But once she got it out, she saw a shadow engulf her and turned on the spot, drawing her dagger out of its hidden sheath. A hand caught her wrist and her eyes were met with a light green glow.  
“Sleep.”  
And Anne fell into a pair of strong arms.


	10. Chapter 10

“Tifa! Anne! Breakfast is ready!” Mrs Lockhart called as she placed two plates of toast onto the table for her daughters.  
Tifa came down, untying the plat in her hair, and sat down, eating the toast vigorously whilst it was still warm and the butter was melting. Mrs Lockhart came to the table with a bowl of porridge and added strawberries before eating it. They glanced at the empty seat where Anne normally sat and Tifa rolled her eyes.  
“She must have come home too late to wake up early enough,” she sighed and got up “I’ll go wake her.”  
Tifa grabbed her last piece of toast and jogged upstairs whilst eating it to Anne’s room.  
“Anne,” she knocked on the door “Anne, wake up, it’s time for breakfast.”  
There was a pause and Tifa frowned, opening the door. She frowned when she saw Anne’s empty bed then went downstairs.  
“She’s not in her room,” she said to Mrs Lockhart “She must have stayed over at Luka’s.”  
“Or worse,” Mrs Lockhart breathed softly and stood but Tifa placed a hand over hers.  
“Let’s not skip to any conclusions,” she said “With any luck, she inherited Dad’s quick reflexes and escaped Luka if he tried to do anything.”  
They both tensed at the mention of Mr Lockhart. Mrs Lockhart sighed and sat back down.  
“You’re right, Tifa,” she whispered as Tifa looked away “But just in case, would you go over to Anne’s school to check if she’s there before going to your classes?”  
Tifa glanced at her mother and nodded.  
******************************************  
Luka and Luna shared an identical frown as they noticed Anne wasn’t waiting for them at the entrance of the school like she normally did. Luna placed her helmet into the compartment as Luka took out their bags.  
“I wonder if she’s late…” Luna mused as she put her backpack on.  
“No, I took her home early, she might have needed to see a teacher early,” Luka hummed.  
“Luka!”  
Luka winced when he recognized Tifa’s call and turned his head to the older woman running towards them. Luna snarled but Luka gripped her shoulder. Luna was a pretty protective sister when it came to girls accusing him of this and that.  
“Luka, where is Anne?” Tifa asked as she arrived in front of them.  
“I’m not sure, she might have gone to see a teacher,” Luka shrugged.  
“Don’t try anything with me, you did something to her last night,” Tifa held up a finger and growled at him.  
“I didn’t do anything to her,” Luka frowned “Why? Was she upset about something this morning? Because I reckon you would have been the cause of it.”  
“This isn’t funny, Luka!” Tifa snarled.  
The twins shared a confused look and Luna cleared her throat.  
“Miss Tifa,” she spoke up “is something wrong?”  
“Anne never came back last night, what have you done with her?” Tifa growled and grabbed Luka by the collar of his jacket “Tell me! Where is my sister?”  
Luka gripped her wrist and countered her glare.  
“I walked her home last night,” he replied “She wanted to go home early so I dropped her off at about half past eight.”  
“Liar!” Tifa snarled.  
“Let go of him!” Luna shoved Tifa away “My brother would never take advantage of Anne!”  
As the girls argued, Luka felt the information sink in. Anne never went home last night but he had walked her to her doorstep. Could someone have attacked her? Luka wasn’t thinking as he jumped onto his motorbike and drove off. He had to find her.  
******************************************************************************  
“Be careful with that,” Sephiroth spoke to the people loading on a crate which read ‘Fragile’ on “I don’t want it damaged.”  
The men nodded as they carefully carried the crate into the storage. Sephiroth nodded curtly before boarding the ship that would sail to Wutai. Whilst passing the multiple guests that were on board, he noticed a young teenage girl complaining to her mother about how small the boat was compared to the cruise ship they were on last year. Rolling his eyes, Sephiroth felt himself smirk as he pictured how he might handle such a situation in the future. He found his room and lay on the bed with a soft breath. He closed his eyes and smirked.  
**************  
Luka cast aside the thug with a frustrated growl, fingering the chain on his sword in agitation as his head began spinning. Where was she? He’d scoured the slums and Luka was exhausted. Searching every nook and cranny, asking anyone and everyone on if they’d seen her or not and he even checked the dumpsters to check if someone just carelessly tossed her body away. The figure got up and leered over him but Luka whipped his sword out and pressed the blade to the figure’s neck.  
“Anyone who gets in my way will pay severely,” he growled.  
The thug laughed as he gripped Luka’s blade.  
“Oh? Do you really have the guts to kill?” he leered.  
Luka narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He jerked his sword out of the man’s grip but held up a pale hand.  
“Thundera,” he said with a bit too much force.  
The man howled as he was electrocuted and Luka stormed off, clenching the handle of his blade tightly. After putting a good amount of distance between himself and the thug, Luka began to slow down and walk thoughtfully, not really thinking about where he was going. He grimaced. Was he really the best boyfriend for Anne? Sure, he was strong, he was caring and he was loyal, but it didn’t feel like it was enough. If Anne was out there somewhere, cowering and frightened… Luka shook his head and felt his shoulders shake. He stopped when he realised he was crying. He wiped the tears away, slightly astonished and gripped his sword. Was he really just another weak juvenile like the rest of the boys in his school? Luka paused as he realised he had stopped outside of Anne’s house. A glint in the street made him bend down and pick up the necklace that lay in between the cobblestones.  
“Anne…”  
It was the necklace she was wearing last night, the first one he gave to her when they started going out. Tears falling from his cheeks, Luka clenched the small trinket in his hand and bowed his head.  
“I should have stayed until she was actually inside,” he whispered.  
“You! Get away!”  
Luka winced when a small pebble hit him on the head and turned to see Mrs Lockhart by the kitchen window, waving angrily at him. The door flew open and Tifa came out, gloves on, ready to pummel him. Luka stood up, unfazed by the threats the women asserted and walked up to Mrs Lockhart. The middle-aged woman lifted a frying pan but Luka wasn’t afraid. He got to one knee and held his sword out in front of him.  
“I’m sorry,” he said “I should have taken more care of your daughter. Please forgive me.”  
He winced and fell over when Tifa kicked him.  
“You filthy brat!” she spat at him “Don’t you dare talk to my mother! She doesn’t need to hear your weak apology for raping and dumping Anne!”  
Mrs Lockhart had lowered her frying pan and stared as Luka glared up at Tifa and began arguing with her about her prejudices towards him. She closed her eyes and remembered back to when her own first love presented himself to her parents.  
********************************************************************************  
“I swear by my family’s honour that I will protect your daughter!” he proclaimed in front of her father “Please! Take my word! Let me marry her!”  
“And if you hurt her? Are disloyal to her?” her father spoke.  
“By my heritage and honour, I will pay severely.”  
*************************************************  
And paid severely, he did. Mrs Lockhart shook away the memory of the last time she ever saw Mr Lockhart and leaned out of the window.  
“And if I do accept your apology,” she interrupted the argument “What will you do? How will you prove that you truly are sorry?”  
Luka looked up at her and got onto his hands and knees before her.  
“Anything, I’ll do anything,” he begged “I’ll search the whole world for her.”  
“That’s a lot coming from you,” Tifa sneered at him.  
“Tifa.”  
Tifa glanced at her mother as she withdrew herself from the window.  
“Let him in.”  
“What?” Tifa gaped as Luka looked up in surprise.  
“Let him in, he needs to speak with the police as he was the last person to see her,” Mrs Lockhart picked up the phone “We need him to find Anne.”  
Luka’s silver eyes widened happily and he jumped to his feet.  
“Thank you, thank you so much,” he said as he went inside for the first time.  
“But…but…Mother!”   
Tifa stormed in after Luka as Mrs Lockhart began talking to the police.  
********************  
“Whoa, easy there!”   
Nero stumbled and knocked over one of the crates, wincing at the crash.  
“Shit!” Weiss panicked and jogged over “I hope nothing’s broken!”  
The brothers looked over to see the crate’s lid had slid open to reveal a young teenage face, framed with ebony hair.  
“Sweet Gaia, it’s a girl!”


	11. Chapter 11

“Wait…”  
Weiss frowned as he crept over to the crate and leaned down to the girl’s face. He carefully pressed his fingers to her cheek and sighed.  
“It’s not a girl, it’s a doll,” he explained.  
“What?”  
Nero crept over curiously and carefully pressed his fingers against the girl’s face and sighed. Her face was cold, like china.  
“Really, that scared me,” he sighed “It’s so lifelike.”  
“Yeah, these kind of dolls are expensive, only old rich perverts get them though,” Weiss explained.  
“Hey, can we see the rest of it?” Nero asked.  
“Why, so you can have an image for your shower?” Weiss smirked and Nero flushed, shaking his head vigorously “I suppose we can, as long as we don’t break it.”  
Weiss carefully slid the crate open more so they could see the doll in her beautiful white dress. She held a bouquet of lilies firmly in her hands, wore a crown of flowers in her hair and flowers were spread across the white mattress she lay on.  
“Well that isn’t creepy at all,” Weiss raised an eyebrow “It looks like a doll for a makeshift wedding ceremony or something.”  
“She’s kind of pretty,” Nero commented “But she looks so unnerving, it’s pretty creepy.”  
“Dear Gaia, her eyes are closed,” Weiss shuddered “She’s one of those dolls that has her eyes snap open when she’s put upright.”  
Nero flinched at the thought and Weiss carefully lifted up an eyelid and gasped, letting go so the eyelid snapped back.  
“Her eyes are red!”  
“OK, that’s just demonic,” Nero shivered and backed away a bit.  
“Let’s just close her up,” Weiss said and they slid the lid back over the crate, placed the crate back into its original place then left.  
***********************************************************************************************************************************************  
Mrs Lockhart laced her fingers together and closed her eyes, taking a calming breath as the Officer Rude wrote down Anne’s description.  
“You say you think she might have been kidnapped?” Rude turned to Luka who stood in the corner of the living room.  
“Yes, I found her necklace outside the house,” Luka said “It’s her favourite, I couldn’t see her taking it off by her own will.”  
“Do you have any idea who might have kidnapped Anne?”  
“Well, there is him,” Mrs Lockhart muttered.  
“But he’s in prison,” Tifa cut in “He was arrested and taken to Gongaga Prison ten years ago.”  
“Who?” Rude quirked an eyebrow.  
“Mr Lockhart, our father,” Tifa explained, closing her eyes and shaking the memory away.  
“And what would his intention to take Anne be?” Rude scribbled down notes on his notepad.  
“He’s always had a morbid fascination with her,” Mrs Lockhart grimaced then stood “I’m just going to make myself another cup of tea.”  
Luka narrowed his eyes suspiciously as she left to go to the kitchen and Tifa hunched her shoulders.  
“Anne was very close to him too when we were younger,” she said “I’m not entirely sure what happened. One night, he took Anne and tried to run away when Mother called the police.”  
“And why did she call the police?”  
“I…I don’t remember, my memory’s all fuzzy on the details.”  
“It must have been traumatic,” Luka cut in, earning a soft glare from Tifa “If you couldn’t remember details of such a big event in your childhood, you must have repressed the memory.”  
“And who asked for your opinion?” Tifa asked icily.  
Luka held his hands up with a raised eyebrow as Rude kept scribbling on his notepad. He paused then lowered them.  
“There’s Mr Dux,” he started.  
“Oh please, don’t tell me you believed Anne when she told you that he might be obsessing over her,” Tifa sighed.  
“I was in her History class, Tifa, I saw the way he would always keep her at the front of the class and overreact whenever she was a bit late,” Luka snarled.  
“Well even if he did have this obsession, he’s in Wutai, teaching as a university professor,” Tifa stated with a toss of her hair.  
“Universities aren’t open at this time of year,” Luka narrowed his eyes.  
“And how would you know that?”  
“I am from Wutai.”  
Tifa held her tongue and sighed irritably.  
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” Rude asked and looked up at the young adults.  
“There is the unlikely scenario of Anne getting attacked by a group of thugs,” Luka shrugged “But this neighbourhood is safe enough and she’s good at using magic.”   
“So you’re suggesting this might have been the victim of a premeditated kidnapping and was caught off guard?” Rude regarded him through his glasses.  
“That is most likely…” Luka said.  
“Please, Luka!” Tifa scoffed and got up “Stop acting like you knew her best!”  
“And just how long ago have you and Anne had a conversation without arguing?” Luka snarled.  
Tifa opened her mouth then hesitated, shutting it after realising that she didn’t even know that much about her younger sister. She sat down as Mrs Lockhart came into the room with a fresh cup of tea.  
“Well I will look into these two suspects,” Rude said as he got up and put his police cap on “I will get back to you with further details.”  
He nodded stiffly and left. Luka watched Mrs Lockhart as she sat down with her cup of tea.  
“Ma’am, may I know about your husband?” he asked carefully.  
“I’ve let you into my house, not into the family,” came the bitter reply.  
“I wish to know,” Luka pressed on “I…wish to know more about Anne.”  
“She said no, so get out now!” Tifa snapped.  
Luka opened his mouth to reply but his phone buzzed in his pocket. With an irritable sigh, he left the house and answered his phone. As he talked to Luna about what was going on whilst going down the street, he brushed past Cloud. Cloud paused and watched the younger man walked up to his parked motorbike and sit on it, talking in a low tone into his mobile. With a curious frown, Cloud let himself into the Lockhart household.  
“Tifa, I got your text…” he started.  
A black blur crashed into him and he ended up pinned against the door, hugging an emotional Tifa. He rubbed her back, blinking in confusion as she gripped him, her hands wandering up and down his muscles.  
“She’s disappeared,” Tifa uttered “Gone, kidnapped, abducted, oh Gaia…”  
“Who? What’s going on?” Cloud blinked and tilted his head to the side.  
Tifa looked up at him with bloodshot eyes and sniffed.  
“Anne, she’s gone.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Luka, you can’t continue into Upper Sixth like this.”  
Luka glanced up at his parents who had sat him down in the middle of the sofa. It had been about a week since Anne had disappeared. Luka couldn’t find any more clues to where she had gone. He rarely ate, barely slept and his parents and Luna were getting concerned. His father gave him a sympathetic look and got to one knee, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
“I understand that this must be tough for you,” he consoled him.  
“I’m fine,” Luka argued.  
“Luka, you must assume the worse by now. If Anne had been kidnapped, don’t you think her captors would have called her family to ask for a ransom?”  
“There is more than one kind of kidnapper!” Luka argued.  
“Luka, please,” his mother cut in “for your own sake you must clear your head and try to forget about her.”  
“So we’re suggesting for you to go on the traditional Miura Pilgrimage.”   
Luka stilled at the mention of his mother’s maiden name and her family’s tradition. He hung his head and placed his hands on top of it, staring at the floor.  
“No…” he whispered “I’m not ready for that. I don’t want to go around the world for the sake of self-actualisation and seeking my soul mate.”  
His whole body trembled.  
“It was Anne, she…”  
“You need to stop that now, son,” his father interrupted “You know just as much as I that it was merely a relationship that wouldn’t go further than school. People change, son. You need to start to take the first steps to being a man.”  
Luka gritted his teeth then got up, storming outside. Luna, who had been watching from the staircase, chased after him. She grabbed his arm and he turned to her, fist raised. Luna flinched and Luka breathed heavily, eyes wide. He lowered his fist and hugged Luna close to him.  
“Luna…I…I…”  
“I know, Luka, I know,” Luna soothed and hugged him back.  
Luka gritted his teeth and Luna pushed him away to look up at him.  
“Luka, please go on the Miura Pilgrimage,” she said and he opened his mouth to protest “Please! It will help you clear your mind and you’ll have the chance to explore the world!”  
“But, I…”  
“Luka, please!” Luna pleaded “Please, for your own sake! You haven’t been yourself lately and I know that you think it won’t do you any good. But staying here and just obsessing over Anne’s disappearance, it won’t bring her back.”  
Luka gritted his teeth again and bowed his head. Luna held his hand and squeezed it.  
“If you really think that Anne’s your soul mate then you’ll find her out there.”  
Luka paused then looked up at Midgar’s high walls. He took a deep breath then sighed.  
“Of course, she might have been taken out of Midgar…” he whispered.  
“Please, Luka,” Luna said and gripped his hand “Don’t look for her.”  
“But you said…”  
“You don’t find your soul mate just by looking for them!” Luna burst out “Just go on the pilgrimage and who knows? You might find her or you might find someone who might be able to give you the right consolidation to get over her! Please…please just do it, not for mom or dad but for me. It hurts seeing you like this, Luka…”  
Luka stared down at his twin and hugged her tightly.  
“I’m sorry,” he said “Don’t worry. I’ll go. First thing tomorrow.”  
Luna sniffed and hugged him, smiling despite her tears.  
********************************************************  
Sephiroth closed the door and smirked down at the crate that lay in the lobby. He carefully eased the lid off and the girl didn’t even stir as the summer sun landed on her body.  
“Esuna.”  
The girl breathed. Her fingers fell slack, letting go of the bouquet as Sephiroth scooped her up and carried her upstairs. Her breath tickled his neck and Sephiroth smiled, adjusting his grip so she could rest her head on his shoulder. He carried her to the room at the end of the corridor, opening the door to reveal a bedroom with bookshelves, a balcony with translucent white curtains blowing in the wind and a door which led to the bathroom. Sephiroth lay the girl on the double bed and smiled as the gentle breeze pushed her hair back from out of her face. Her body sunk into the soft mattress and she let out a tired moan, turning away from him and curling up into a ball. Sephiroth gently lifted the flower wreath off her head and smiled at her sleeping form, the white dress blowing against the gentle breeze. He left the room to put away the flower crown and make his princess something to eat.  
***********************************  
Anne couldn’t remember a time when her bed had been so comfortable. She stirred when she felt the wind on her face, frowning. She didn’t normally leave her window open, even in the summer. And why was she wearing a dress? Why weren’t there any covers on her? And why was the sun so bright? Anne’s eyes flickered open and she heard the sea waves crashing against the beach. Beach? Waves? Sea? Anne blinked in confusion as she saw a bright blue sky, the sea, a red brick wall and a cherry blossom tree. Was this a dream? It felt pretty vivid. Anne blinked as the wind died down and white, nearly see-through curtains fell, covering the balcony that she could see. Slowly, she sat up and looked around the room.  
“Where is this?” she whispered and coughed, her throat feeling dry and unused.  
After she recovered, she rubbed her eyes, yawning deeply. The door creaked open and Anne opened her eyes, lowering her hands in a daze. Her eyesight was a bit blurry so her first guess was that it was Luka. But after a few more blinks, she froze when she saw the man she thought she would never see again.  
“Good afternoon, Anne,” Sephiroth greeted with a warm smile.  
It was her crazy history teacher.  
“Ah…”  
This wasn’t her home.  
“Ah…”  
Her dress only reached her knees and it was sleeveless, thus exposing a lot of skin.  
“Ah…”  
She wasn’t even wearing shoes!  
“Ah…”  
Or underwear!  
“Ah…”  
“I made you some tea,” Sephiroth said and began walking up to her.  
Anne’s pupils constricted. Her scream shook the house and hurt her poor throat. Her stupid instincts told her to run but she ran into the balcony, crashing into the railing. She gasped as she saw the drop and pushed herself away, pressing her knuckles tightly to her lips.  
“Anne, calm down,” Sephiroth’s voice reached her ears and his shadow fell on her.  
“No, don’t come near me!” she shrieked and ran from him, running out of the bedroom.  
He caught up to her, his arms wrapping themselves around her waist and lifting her off the ground. She screamed, clawing at his arms and kicking the air in a futile attempt to escape. She grunted when she landed on the mattress of the bed that she woke up in and gasped when she heard the door lock. She shuffled away from Sephiroth as he sat down by the tray on the bedside table and poured a cup of tea. She grabbed a pillow for self-defence, hugging it to her chest and gnawing at the corner as she watched Sephiroth calmly pour milk and sugar into a teacup and stir it with a teaspoon. Sephiroth smiled at her and offered her the teacup. She shook her head furiously, knowing not to accept cups of tea from crazy stalker history teachers.  
“Anne, it will calm you down,” he said soothingly.  
All the more reason not to drink it! Anne shook her head again, tears brimming her eyes. She sniffed, biting down on the pillow harder to stop herself from crying. But she couldn’t help it. Anne choked, letting the pillow slip out of her grip and cried. The tears flowed down her cheeks as she wiped her eyes furiously, squeezing her eyes tightly.  
“I just want to go home,” she whimpered.  
She continued crying, not being able to control herself. She snivelled, sniffed, sniffled and sobbed as Sephiroth crawled over and cupped her cheek.  
“Ssh…” he soothed her “Everything’s going to be alright. Don’t cry, my sweet.”  
“Please…I’ll do anything. I don’t want to be here…”  
******************************************************  
Sephiroth drew back, feeling hurt by her words. Clenching his fist, he gritted his teeth and snatched her face with both of his hands, staring down at her tearstained, confused eyes.  
“Yes you do,” he said a bit forcefully “You want to be here. With me.”  
Anne stared up at him with wide eyes and strained to get her face out of his grip, her tiny hands wrapping around his wrists. His fingers traced her face curiously, memorizing every little detail. Every spot, every bump, every inch… His thumbs discovered her cracked lips and he licked his own.  
“Anne, I love you,” he whispered before pressing his lips to her own.  
She screamed in his mouth, thrashed about, tried to claw at him but he was stronger than her. Much stronger. He realised, as he ran his hands down to her neck, he could just snap her neck in half. But he wouldn’t. She was his. He wouldn’t hurt her. No, he would never hurt Anne. Not his Anne. Her actions slowed, her lips grew slack and when Sephiroth broke the kiss, she fell onto the mattress, coughing and panting for breath. Sephiroth sucked in a breath as he pinned her shoulders down and kissed her again, his tongue entwining around hers.  
*********************************  
Anne felt sick. She twisted and turned but she felt like passing out with the lack of oxygen. She was scared, so scared. This had to be a nightmare, this can’t be real. This was just a nightmare, she would wake up and laugh at how silly it had been. Then she’ll have breakfast, argue with her mom and Tifa, meet Luka and have a wonderful day. She didn’t notice when Sephiroth broke the kiss and when her mouth inhaled a hefty amount of air to restore her lungs. She simply stared ahead, picturing her imaginary day with Luka. Her reverie was broken when Sephiroth cupped her cheek and smiled down at her.  
“You must be tired,” he breathed and got up, out of her view “I’ll leave your tea on the bedside table. If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs.”  
There was a pause and the door clicked to signal that it was unlocked.  
“I love you.”  
The door opened then closed and Anne turned her head to look at it. She stared at the pot of tea with the cup of tea and her eyes suddenly narrowed into a glare.  
“You’re weak,” she scolded herself “How dare you let him take advantage of you!”  
She reached out for the pot of tea and seconds later, her cry of anguish had Sephiroth come running to her aid.


	13. Chapter 13

Anne curled her knees up to her chest as she sat on the sofa, staring out at the rain pouring in the garden. Her wrists were tightly bandaged from the incident last week. Sephiroth watched her with a soft grimace as he prepared lunch for them. Her lukewarm hot chocolate sat on the coffee table nearby. He couldn’t trust her with hot drinks or anything else that she could use to self-harm. He flinched inwardly as he remembered the way her wrists blistered at the heat of the boiling tea. He remembered kissing the raw skin tenderly to soothe them before wrapping cling film then bandages around her wrists. Sephiroth stared down at the ingredients that he was chopping up, imagining that fantasy of when Anne would stand next to him and help him cook. But at the risk of using the knife against herself, Sephiroth didn’t let her anywhere near the kitchen area. He didn’t even let her eat anything with a fork and knife, he had to make food like soup or sandwiches for her. He looked up at her again, smiling as she fiddled with the sleeves of her dress, looping her fingers through the lace. He was pleased that he managed to convince her to wear the clothes he had bought her. That particular red dress was one of his personal favourites. Though it covered her legs when she stood, that particular shade of red reminded Sephiroth of his precious princess’s eyes.  
“Anne,” he called softly.  
She didn’t stir, lost in thought as she kept her back to him.  
“Anne,” he called again.  
“Hm?” Anne hummed out of habit rather than response and turned her head to face him.  
Sephiroth smiled widely as he saw those red eyes, though slightly duller than usual. He guessed it be from the light and the miserable weather outside.  
“Your hot chocolate is there on the table,” he reminded her.  
Anne looked at the mug of cold chocolate, rather than calling it hot chocolate, nodded in acknowledgement to it as if it were a person then turned back to stare out of the glass doors that were firmly shut. Sephiroth smiled wider and chuckled, throwing the ingredients into the pot of boiling water. He stirred whilst adding the stock and recalled the events a few days ago.  
************************************************************************************  
Sephiroth finally found Anne, who had discovered a way out to the garden. It was raining heavily but Anne didn’t seem to notice, her eyes fixed on the grey sky as she curled her knees into her chest and sit in the rain. She was wearing a white blouse, the rain making it see-through so Sephiroth could see her spine and her bra strap. He felt himself smile a little, grabbed an umbrella and walked out, stopping next to her so she was sheltered. Anne’s eyes flickered over to him once and she lowered her head to rest it on her knees.  
“Anne, come inside,” he cooed gently and crouched down next to her “I’ll run you a warm bath and cook you something nice.”  
Anne shook her head.  
“I just want to go home,” she whimpered.  
Sephiroth sighed as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, grimacing at the way she flinched from his contact.  
“Anne, this is your home,” he said “It’s time to move on. Don’t be so stubborn.”  
“I…I want my Da-Daddy…” Anne choked out, not making the mistake of using Luka’s name again like before, he noted.  
Sephiroth frowned at the mention of her father. As far as he was concerned, the Lockharts didn’t live with a male member of the family. Shaking the thought away, he grabbed her arm and with a sharp yank, managed to pull her up to her feet. His eyes widened when he saw her hands were bloodied and bruised and he narrowed his eyes.  
“What have you been doing?” he asked.  
Anne stilled, staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes. His grip on her arm tightened.  
“What did you do to your hands?!” he demanded.  
Anne whimpered and looked away. Sephiroth followed her gaze to the tall garden brick wall and snarled.  
“Why would you hurt yourself in such a manner?!” he bellowed at her, making her jump “What makes you think hurting yourself is going to get you back to Midgar?!”  
Anne stared up at him, gripping his wrist and trying to pull away. Sephiroth dragged her back inside, slammed the door shut and dropped the umbrella. He got to his knees, gripped her hands in his and kissed them.  
“You’re so precious…” he whispered to her “My precious princess. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger. Ever.”  
Words alone wouldn’t be able to describe the way he felt when he had returned to Midgar to pick Anne up and find out that she had been putting herself at risk by going monster hunting with that delinquent. Not only did she have a dagger in a hidden sheath but she also sported a mark on her wrist from a Materia bracer. She was also carrying an Odin summoning Materia in her pocket. What made her think that she’d be able to wield such powerful magic without a bracer to retain unnecessary excess power? And how dare that…that…that boy let her wield magic that could potentially backfire on her and let her go fighting monsters in the slums! She could have been injured and in hospital! Or worse! Sephiroth stared up at Anne and smiled.  
“Anne, I love you too much to let you just wandering around, hurting yourself like a mad person.”  
Anne stared down at him emotionlessly. Sephiroth, got back up and stole a quick kiss from her soft lips.  
“I’ll get your bath ready,” he whispered and left her, taking the umbrella with him in case she saw the opportunity to use it as a weapon against herself.  
************************************************************************************  
So precious, his beautiful Anne. Sephiroth stirred the soup absent-mindedly, watching Anne with a soft smile on his face.  
************************************************************************************  
The rain hadn’t seemed so beautiful in her prison before. Anne realised the graceful way the raindrops would fall and land on the earth. If she concentrated hard, she would try to predict the rhythm of the rain falling on the stone patio. Her fingers drummed on her legs softly, trying to mimic the pitter-patter.   
“You’re daydreaming again, aren’t you?”  
Anne blinked at the memory echoing in her head. She blinked again in bewilderment as she swore she saw Luka’s figure appear on the patio. She reached out for the cold glass but another blink later, he was gone. She lowered her hand with a glimmer of a tear in her eye. Her bottom lip wobbled as she stood up and pressed her hands and forehead against the cool glass.  
“Luka…” she whispered quiet enough so Sephiroth wouldn’t hear her.  
************************************************************************************  
“You look so pretty today, Anne.”   
Sephiroth gave her a smile across the breakfast table as Anne looked down at her toast. Anne pulled at the black miniskirt with a barely noticeable grimace. He had bought her clothes. Lots of them. School uniforms, Lolita dresses, clothes with frills and ribbons, the list went on. Anne felt like prey just wearing them.   
“That outfit goes with a bracelet and a scrunchie,” her captor informed her “I’ll go and get them.”  
He left the table and Anne took a piece of toast off her plate. She lifted it to her lips but paused, not really feeling hungry as usual.  
“Lost your appetite there, Anne?”  
Anne gasped as she looked up and Luka was there, sitting in Sephiroth’s place. He gave her a lopsided smile, boots crossed over on the table as he twirled a spoon in his hand in a bored manner.  
“It’s OK if you don’t like my mom’s cooking,” he said “After we’ve finished with your Maths homework, we can go out to Kalm for dinner. I’m know you love Mrs Black’s cooking better than your own mother’s!”  
His laugh was so clear in Anne’s memory, she actually thought for a moment that he was actually here.  
“Lu…ka…” she uttered in disbelief.  
“Anne.”  
Sephiroth’s voice was like a knife, slicing through the illusion and Anne snapped her head up to see him by the staircase, anger burning in his cold eyes. She turned back to Luka only to find that he was gone. The toast had slipped from her fingers and landed on the floor, leaving a trace of crumbs on her stockings. Sephiroth took her upstairs to the vanity in her room and sat her down in front of it. Anne stared at the counter, not really paying attention to the gentle way Sephiroth brushed and caressed her hair.  
“Don’t ever cut your hair, Anne.”  
Anne lifted her eyes up when she heard Luka’s voice again and saw him in the reflection of the mirror, sitting on the side of her bed and smiling at her.  
“I love your hair long like that.”  
Anne turned abruptly, interrupting Sephiroth briefly and blinked in confusion when she saw no-one there.  
“Anne?” Sephiroth said with a hint of confusion.  
Anne stared at the bed for a few seconds longer then turned, her gaze fixed on the counter again as Sephiroth continued brushing. Was she going mad? Were these hallucinations? Or was it just her overactive imagination? Anne clenched her fists, tears collecting in her eyes.  
“There we are,” Sephiroth stepped back with a satisfied smile.  
Anne lifted her head up to see he had fashioned a high ponytail to the side of her head. She only just noticed that she was now wearing the bracelet he had mentioned. She tensed when Sephiroth slipped his arms around her waist and kissed the side of her head.  
“Anne, you need to forget about him,” he breathed in her ear “He isn’t worthy of your attention.”  
Anne clenched her fists on her thighs, her nails digging into her stockings. Sephiroth nuzzled her lovingly.  
“He doesn’t matter, no-one else matters,” he whispered “Only us.”  
“It doesn’t matter. They don’t matter. Only us.”  
Now he was leaning against the railing on the balcony, smiling and tossing his hair out of his face.  
“Anne, I love you.”  
“Anne?”  
Anne blinked as she noticed Sephiroth brushing the tears away. She pushed him away and ran downstairs, looking for somewhere to hide and cry.  
************************************************************************************  
The rain was slowly stopping now, a little sunlight peeking through the clouds and making the raindrops on the window shimmer slightly. Anne didn’t know how long she had been standing there, her eyes closed and her forehead going numb and wet from leaning on the cold glass. She wanted Luka to be here, out there on the patio where she had seen him. Even though there would be this cold chilling glass barrier in between them, she would feel safe and protected. Just having Luka around, it would make Anne feel secure and happy. A lone tear streaked down her face as she imagined bigger slender hands pressed against the rain stained glass where her hands were positioned. She smiled in the most bittersweet fashion she had known. She opened her eyes when she felt arms wrap themselves around her waist and lips press into the back of her head.  
“Lunch is ready,” Sephiroth whispered.  
He squeezed her softly and sighed happily. Anne didn’t respond, just compared the way his arms constricted around her to Luka’s. His arms were long, holding her like she was a trapped bird trying to fly out of his grip. Anne tilted her head slightly to see a couple of seagulls fly across the sky. She didn’t pay much attention for a few minutes after falling into a daydream so it was only when she felt Sephiroth’s foot nudge hers that she realised she was at the table with a bowl of light green soup in front of her. Sephiroth gave her an encouraging smile and she picked up her spoon and began eating. She wasn’t a fan of vegetable soup but she wasn’t in much of a position to be fussy with her food. She tried resisting the meals at first which only resulted in being threatened to have the food injected to her. Sephiroth knew how to push and persuade her. She hated it.  
“Anne,” his voice reached her ears again but she didn’t take much notice “Anne. Anne?”  
Anne lifted her eyes from the soup to meet Sephiroth’s happy smile.  
“Talk to me,” he said and reached out, placing his hand over his.  
Anne regarded him warily but kept her lips pursed shut. Sephiroth tilted his head to the side, eyes imploring her as he ran a thumb over her knuckles.  
“Anne, please,” he said with a soft begging tone “Tell me, what are you thinking right now?”  
“Did you know that sailors created the idea of mermaids because they got lonely whilst they were at sea?”  
Anne’s eyes moved over to Luka who stood at the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee.  
“They saw manatees and pictured them as attractive women with fish tails,” he smirked and she remembered how perplexed she felt at the thought of picturing such ugly creatures as beautiful women.  
Anne blinked and he was gone. Anne lowered her gaze to her soup and stirred it thoughtfully.  
“Mermaids,” she replied.  
She didn’t look up at Sephiroth when he went silent for a moment and continued eating.  
“Do you know the origins of mermaids?” he asked.  
Anne nodded, not wanting to hear Sephiroth’s explanation just after she remembered Luka’s. Sephiroth began talking about something to do with the sea but Anne tuned him out as she stared at her soup. She began remembering her older memories, when she was a child. She loved to swim, splashing around, diving underwater and pretending that she was a mermaid.  
“Oh, my precious little water nymph.”  
Anne snapped her head up when she heard a different voice to Luka’s. She blinked in confusion when she saw a shadowed figure by the staircase.  
“How dare they refuse for you to take part in the swimming gala,” he continued “But you don’t have to worry about them. You’ll always be the best swimmer in my eyes.”  
“Anne?”  
Anne blinked and the memory was gone. Was it a memory? Her imagination waking to get ready to write once more? Sephiroth said she was free to do that, only in his company though. He didn’t trust her with pens or pencils or a laptop. She jumped when Sephiroth squeezed her hand.  
“Are you alright?” he asked.  
Anne placed her spoon down and pushed her half eaten soup away.  
“Oh, I see,” Sephiroth smiled “Wait here, I have something for you.”  
He cleared the bowls away and Anne watched him blankly. Her eyes slowly moved back to the staircase where the shadowed figure had stood moments before. She tried to remember that voice and will the illusion back but it didn’t happen. She couldn’t remember where that voice had come from or who that man was. Was she truly going mad? She blinked in surprise as a small box landed in her lap and she looked down, eyes widening when she saw a box of strawberry flavoured pocky. Her favourite treat. She stared up at Sephiroth in bewilderment and he smiled.  
“You always had a packet around with you at school,” he said.  
Even though it was true, it freaked Anne out on the inside. Why did he notice all these things about her? Her favourite perfume, her favourite TV programs, heck, how the hell did he know that she was in favour of silver rather than gold? Anne never wore jewellery in school, he must have stalked her to know that. Her mouth opened and closed, trying to muster up the courage to shout and scream at him, call him creepy, call him a paedophile but her throat was dry. Placing the pocky on the table, Anne stood and ran upstairs. She felt the pressure of her emotions bottled up but pushed them down. She didn’t want to cause a scene. She just wanted to be away from him. Far, far away.   
************************************************************************************  
Sephiroth let out a disappointed exhale, sitting back down in his place and placing his head in his hands.  
“Anne,” he whispered softly “Am I really not good enough for you?”  
It hurt. Every step she ran from him, it broke his heart. The silence that hung over them when they were together, it stung his chest. And whenever she mentioned that Luka it made him want to smack her. Inhaling gently, Sephiroth shook his head. It was early days still. She’ll warm up to him eventually. How couldn’t she? He was providing her with a life that she could only dream of. A bigger home to explore, a bigger room, clothes that suited both her and her own tastes, a warm, loving partner… Sephiroth opened his eyes and stared ahead. Why would she choose that delinquent over him? Sephiroth was more mature, he earned a good living and he knew exactly what Anne loved and hated. That boy had no morals, he was known as a heartbreaker according to the girls in Anne’s year. Sephiroth had to take her away before he did something to her. She was safe and in protective arms. He just had to enforce it. With a soft nod, Sephiroth picked the box of pocky up and followed Anne upstairs. He went into her room first.  
“Anne,” he called and heard the sniffling from the wardrobe “Anne…”  
He came in front of the wardrobe and heard Anne sniffing, shuffling slightly to get into a more comfortable position. With a soft sigh, he opened the wardrobe and smiled down at her.  
“Come, let’s go back downstairs,” he said and took her hand.  
Anne stared at him as he helped her up to her feet and led her back downstairs. She resisted a little at first when they reached the sofa by the garden windows but complied with sitting on his lap and leaning against his chest.  
************************************************************************************  
Anne felt tense when Sephiroth brought his arms around her body and leaned his head against hers. She heard the rustling of the packet of pocky being opened and having a stick presented to her. She didn’t respond at first but when Sephiroth poked her lips with it, she warily opened her mouth and took it from his hand.  
“You prefer strawberry over chocolate, huh?”  
Anne’s eyes drifted over to Luka lying across the sofa on the other side of the coffee table.  
“I’d better choose a strawberry scented deodorant instead then,” he smirked “Then you’ll like me even more.”  
Anne felt herself smile softly and lean her head on Sephiroth’s shoulder as she remembered the way she called him an idiot. When Sephiroth ran his fingers through her hair and took a stick of pocky for himself, Anne realised with a horror-stricken face. He was conditioning her, like the way Professor Hollander conditioned his dogs to salivate. That’s why he knew all her favourite things, he would reward her for returning his affections and doing what he told her to do. Anne let the stick of pocky fall out of her mouth as it didn’t taste as sweet as it should be anymore. She was not falling for that trap. She wasn’t some kind of animal to be trained.  
“Anne?” Sephiroth paused running his fingers through her hair.  
Anne looked at Luka who smirked.  
“Anne, you look terrible, you shouldn’t go to school if you’re not feeling well.”  
“Sick…” she uttered and Luka winked at her “I…feel sick…”  
Sephiroth shifted her so she was sitting on his legs rather than his lap and took her face in his hands, studying her with a worried look.  
“What kind of sick?” he asked.  
What kind of sick can she fake?  
“Dizzy…” she swayed and Sephiroth’s hands grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling or ‘fainting’ “Headache…”  
Sephiroth pressed a hand to her forehead.  
“You’re not running a fever…” he muttered.  
Looks like she’s going to have to ‘faint’. Anne rolled her eyes back, prayed to Odin that her acting would go off without a hitch and then slumped, Sephiroth’s hands catching her as he called her name.  
************************************************************************************  
Sephiroth panicked as he checked Anne’s pulse and shook her, trying to keep her conscious. Her pulse was erratic, what had suddenly brought this on? Was this a symptom from having her petrified for an extended amount of time? No, it was too late for that. Anne showed all signs of a healthy recovery in the first two days of her stay. She was fine, perfectly fine. Maybe it was just overwhelming for her? Sephiroth lay her down the sofa and kept a hand pressed to her forehead with a concerned frown. He expected her to be a bit confused and disorientated when she woke up in a completely different environment. Not so much that she would actually pass out when reality would catch up to her. What if she had caught a cold from being out in the rain? She didn’t look sick though.  
“Anne?”  
Still no response. Blinking, Sephiroth began considering the possibilities until he saw her chest heaving lightly. He sighed in relief. It must be from exhaustion. Maybe she had trouble sleeping in her new room? Oh well, she’ll get used to it. Pressing a kiss to her head, Sephiroth scooped his little princess up in his arms and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. He took her dress off, unclasped her bra and sucked in a breath when he saw her breasts. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. He would be the only person to see her bare body from now on. He intended to explore her adolescent body but not now. Not yet. Sephiroth dressed Anne in one of her nightgowns and tucked her into bed. He cupped her cheek and smiled warmly.  
“Sleep well,” he whispered before hanging her dress up and leaving the room quietly.  
************************************************************************************  
Sleep eluded Sephiroth that night. He tossed and turned but his gaze always landed on his bedroom door, knowing that just down the corridor, Anne was sleeping in her room. He suddenly rose and made his way down the corridor, the moonlight illuminating his path. He carefully opened the door and peered inside. Anne was curled up on her side again, facing away from the moonlight. Her legs were tangled in the sheets, half of them were dangling from the side. Sephiroth couldn’t help but smile softly as he approached her and pulled the sheets back up to cover her. Anne let out a soft sigh of appreciation and Sephiroth leaned down to kiss the side of her head.  
“Luka.”  
Sephiroth froze and stared down at her in disbelief. Anne shifted her body slightly and smiled. Clenching his fist, Sephiroth drew away. It was still early days, he told himself, she’ll forget about him. Soon, one day, all she’ll ever want is for him to never leave her. And he wouldn’t. He wasn’t like that boy. Sephiroth turned and froze when an idea occurred to him. He glanced at Anne before getting up and going to his own personal bathroom. He opened the cabinet and reached at the back to grab the deodorant that stood there. He knew Luka often reeked of this deodorant, he was just like the other boys who thought it was cool to be rebellious. Wrinkling his nose, he sprayed a little bit on his wrist then a bit on his bare chest. He coughed a bit at the fumes, fanning his hand to avoid getting the actual deodorant up his nose. He placed the deodorant back before returning to Anne’s bedroom, lying next to her and held his wrist near her face. It worked. Anne smelt the scent almost immediately leaned her head towards his wrist. He smirked as she smelt the stronger scent on his chest and turned, nuzzling against him and hugging him.  
“L…”  
Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed as she nearly murmured Luka’s name but she frowned softly in her sleepy state.  
“Daddy?”  
Sephiroth blinked in confusion as Anne rested her head against his chest and looked ahead. He intended to ask Anne about her father. But not just yet. He swung his arms around her waist and closed his eyes, just enjoying the silence for now. Before long, he fell asleep with her, smiling in contentment.


	14. Chapter 14

“I will be back by lunchtime,” Sephiroth said as he ran his fingers through Anne’s hair “I have left some books for you to read, you have the television for entertainment and the stereo to listen to your music.”  
Anne nodded slowly as she listened to him, eyes glued to the floor. With a soft smile, Sephiroth curled his fingers underneath her chin and tilted her head up so he could see her eyes. Their colour had dulled and it saddened him somewhat. The youth and life Anne possessed when she was at school were two of the qualities that Sephiroth enjoyed the most. The way her eyes lit up whenever she got something right or a smile that she failed to hold back made him feel happy and enchanted. Now, she was just still. She never smiled, unless she was sleeping. Those eyes were never bright nor full of life. And she hardly spoke. In the two weeks she was here, the most she’d ever spoken was on the first day when she woke. The words he’d ever catch from her lips is Luka’s name and her father. If he asked for her to speak, she’d answer with one word answers. He tried to engage in conversation with her, knowing full well that she was able to despite her social anxiety but she wouldn’t comply. She was stubborn but he knew she would grow out of it eventually. She just had to.  
“Is there anything you’d like for lunch?” Sephiroth asked.  
Anne shook her head automatically. Sephiroth inhaled softly and she flinched.  
“Br-Bruschetta,” she stuttered out and Sephiroth smiled.  
“Good girl,” he praised, smirking at the way she set her jaw and nearly let out an angry growl.  
He saw her clench her fists to hold back her anger and smiled. He lowered his lips and pressed them dotingly onto her forehead. There was a twitch from her and he stroked her head affectionately.  
“I’ll see you later,” he smiled down at her then turned away.  
He opened the door to the front of the mansion and glanced behind him to see her head had dropped back to staring at the floor. With a soft sigh, he closed and locked the door before heading out of the mansion to the market.  
**************************************************************  
Anne followed Sephiroth’s footsteps and pressed her hand against the white wooden door. She heard the click of the lock and waited for his footsteps to fade away before trying to open the door in a futile attempt to get out. She let out a soft grunt as she shoved her shoulder against the door, attempting to break it down. She’d busted one door down before, who’s to say that it won’t happen again? But it was no use, the door was too thick and she didn’t have any Materia with her. Gritting her teeth and feeling angry at herself, Anne slammed a fist against the door, wincing as it throbbed painfully and leaning against the door. If only she had Odin. Yes, there’d be a lot of magic backlash without the bracer to keep her safe but at least that was one way in escaping. Anne would gladly lose an arm just to be back home.  
Anne raised one of her wrists to finger the bandage thoughtfully. She’d burned the mark from her Materia bracer so ever if she did have a bracer, it would be pretty painful to snap on and use. But Anne would gladly go through that pain just to get away from here. Sighing, she turned, leaned her back on the door and slid down into a crouching position. She brought her knees close to her chest, plucking at a couple of threads her knee-length stockings that Sephiroth insisted she should wear with the clothes he picked out for her as she had no motivation to even pick out the clothes that he bought her. They felt weird but it was better than parading the place naked. Anne admitted it, the clothes were nice. But she wouldn’t want to wear them in front of Sephiroth.   
“Any more ribbons and you’ll be needing to buy your own personal wardrobe for them.”  
Anne looked next to her, used to the hallucinations by now, as Luka leaned against the door and flicked one of the ribbons that held up one of her bunches.  
“Honestly, aren’t hairbands enough?”  
Anne reached out but her hand met air and Luka disappeared. Her eyes were too sore from crying so she couldn’t shed a tear from the emptiness of her heart. She reached up and yanked the ribbons out of her hair that Sephiroth had tied. She let them fall to the floor with the hairbands and stood up, making her way to the stereo and the pile of CDs. She picked one up and narrowed her eyes while tugging at a strand of hair. The Ruby Studs. Her favourite band. Of course he knew what kind of music she listened to. Anne placed the CD aside and picked up another. The Original Soundtrack from the Lost Castle. The Deluxe Edition of the Missing Mist Soundtrack. There were also CDs with a mix of songs, Anne found one and turned it over to look at the choice. Her eyes immediately fell on the name ‘Silvered Focus’ and she held her breath.  
“Four friends and I formed a band once,” Anne saw Luka’s reflection on the disk case “Silvered Focus. You know Rafael and Seraphim? Well, they were in it along with Cecil Smith and Kaname Adams. I played the guitar, sung a bit, but we only recorded one song before schoolwork caught up with us and we disbanded. We could try regrouping after school is over, see how big we can make it without the chains of schoolwork…”  
Before Anne could realise it, the CD was in the stereo and she was skipping to the track number. Her heart leapt as a guitar music began playing. She closed her eyes and focused on the song, her world melting around her.  
“Beneath the surface of discord…”  
Her eyes snapped open. That was Kaname’s voice, no doubt about it! Anne remembered him singing for a talent show and he won. He had a very beautiful voice, Anne remembered the crush she had long ago.  
“I was a fool…”  
Anne jumped away with a soft gasp when Luka’s voice came out of the stereo next. She pressed a hand to her mouth. She backed away until she fell over a footstool and sniffed, crying as Luka sung. The reality immediately crashed upon her and she covered her eyes, sobbing pathetically.  
“Luka, Luka…” she sobbed and her shoulders shook with every snuffle.  
She rocked herself up and down as she recognized Seraphim’s guitar playing and Rafael’s fingers tickling the ivories. She could hear two guitars, assuming that Luka played the second guitar. She couldn’t hear any other instruments other than the drums and assumed that was Cecil as Kaname didn’t play any instruments. At least, she didn’t think he played any instruments.  
“Oh, blue justice,” Luka and Kaname sung the chorus together and Anne got up, shakily moving over and switching the stereo off.  
She plucked the CD out and placed it back into the case. She pressed her lips to it, closing her eyes and sighing. Sephiroth mustn’t find out about this. Anne turned and ran upstairs in a hurry, reaching her bedroom and pulling the small compartment door attached to her bed to push the CD towards the back of the compartment. She pulled away, closed the compartment door and let the white fabric that decorated the bed hide the door. She backed away carefully and stared at the bed, pressing her knuckles to her lips. She wasn’t sure if Sephiroth knew about this compartment. She had found it when she was bored, apathetic and happened to be lying on the floor. But she daren’t ask Sephiroth; that would just be stupid. Sighing and getting up, Anne looked around the room, biting her lip. She wandered out, stopping when she saw Sephiroth’s bedroom door. She quickly darted over and tried the door, huffing in frustration when she found out that it was locked. But then again, that would mean he’s keeping something in his room from her. Anne huffed, grunted and strained to break through the door but it was no use. She let out a soft breath and leaned her head against the door.  
“Damn it, too weak,” she whispered and tears brimmed her eyes once more.  
She punched the door again feebly before pushing away. She felt angry, like she’d explode!  
“Oh Anne, don’t embarrass yourself by breaking everything in your sight!”  
“Shut up, mother!” Anne screamed and stormed through the illusion of her mother by the staircase.  
She ran downstairs, tripping when she nearly reached the last step and punched the floor in frustration. She hated her! She hated her mother so much! She hated Tifa! She hated Cloud! She hated Sephiroth! She hated…herself… Anne felt the tears run out of her eyes and land on the wooden floor. She sniffed and sat up, rubbing her eyes.  
“I’m hopeless,” she mumbled “How could I let my guard down like that?”  
“Anne, I love you.”  
Anne looked up at the next illusion of Luka, kneeling in front of her and reaching out to brush her tears.  
“Don’t cry, it’s alright. Please don’t cry.”  
“It won’t be alright. I’m trapped. I want you to be here, Luka. I can’t…”  
“Ssh…ssh…”  
Anne closed her eyes tight as she remembered how Luka would hug her. Those gentle, calloused hands playing with her hair, those tender, sweet words and his calming, beautiful eyes…  
“Let’s watch a Nassim Bilverdi film. I know you love that series.”  
Anne somehow got onto her feet and made her way to the TV where a stack of DVDs were. At the top was the box set of the Nassim Bilverdi films. Anne turned to see the spines of the DVDs and paused.  
“She really hates her father, doesn’t she?” Luka was now in the reflection of the TV screen “I could never hate my father. What’s your father like, Anne?”  
That was a very good question actually. Anne raised her head to meet Luka’s questioning guess and opened her mouth.  
“I…I never had a father…” she said.  
“Really? You must have had one. Have you ever asked Tifa? She must remember him.”  
Anne shook her head.  
“All I can remember is me, my mother and Tifa,” she answered “I don’t remember ever having a father.”  
“Huh. I wonder what happened…”  
Luka faded away and Anne bowed her head with a confused frown. She couldn’t remember ever having a father. She always wanted one though, she always wanted an older brother too. So she created an imaginary friend which she called Daddy when she was young. She’d always grown up without a real father and couldn’t maintain the image of her imaginary father so it faded quickly. Anne remember creating her imaginary father when she was seven years old… Anne blinked in surprise. She really couldn’t remember anything before that. Anne felt surprised. She was still young, she expected herself to remember other memories before she was seven years old. Odd, maybe she underestimated her memory capacity?  
“There’s Daddy’s little girl!”  
Anne gasped and turned when she saw that shadowy figure again. She could see him smile and squinted.  
“Daddy?” she whispered, believing that her memories were trying to forge the image of her imaginary father back.  
“Come on, Anne. Daddy has a special surprise for you.”  
Anne shuddered and stepped back. Something didn’t feel right. He offered his hand out to her.  
“We’re going to have so much fun together.”  
Anne didn’t like the tone in his voice or the fact that it sounded so familiar. She quickly waved her hand through the air before her, the illusion disappearing quickly. She placed the box set back down and grabbed the remote. Maybe there’d be something else on that was interesting. She sat on the sofa and flicked the television on.  
“…And now,” the journalist who appeared on the screen “we move onto the mysterious disappearance of Anne Lockhart who has been missing for over a fortnight now.”  
Oh Odin, have you not finished torturing the poor girl? Anne froze when she saw a picture of herself come onto the screen.  
“On the eve of August 17th, Anne went out to meet with her boyfriend Luka Kelly and never returned home. Police have been investigating for over a week but have come up with no leads.”  
Anne saw a strange man appear on the screen, a label appearing at the bottom of the screen to say that his name was Tseng, head of the Police Department in Midgar.  
“We have narrowed our search to one prime suspect,” he said “We have no clue to his whereabouts so it is most likely that he is behind Miss Lockhart’s disappearance, given his motive.”  
“Could you tell us a bit more, officer?” his interviewer inquired.  
“His name is Oliver Lockhart, aged thirty nine and convicted of sexual abuse of both his wife and own daughter, Anne.”  
Anne felt the remote slip from her hand as she saw the mug shot of Oliver Lockhart. She stared at the screen, her throat feeling dry suddenly. Then she shook her head.  
“I don’t have a father,” she said and picked the remote up to switch the TV off.  
*******************************************************************************  
Sephiroth gently cradled a box as he came back into the back of the mansion where he found Anne curled up on the middle of the floor. He placed the box down, closed and locked the door then knelt down, pushing the hair away from her neck to check her pulse. It throbbed with life and he carefully turned her onto her back, cupping her cheek.  
“Anne?” he called and tried shaking her gently “Anne, wake up…”  
Anne’s eyes fluttered open and she stared up at him. Sephiroth smiled and pecked her lips.  
“I have something for you,” he said and leaned over to pull the box over towards them.  
Anne sat up, rubbing her eyes as he opened the box. She froze when she heard a soft mew. Her eyes widened and she stared at the little black kitten, with a cute red ribbon around its neck, in Sephiroth’s hands. It stared up at her with its round yellow eyes as she let him place it in her hands. Sephiroth smiled in satisfaction as she blushed softly at its purr. He knew Anne adored cats, especially kittens. He watched her nose the kitten’s head curiously, as if she were a cat herself and carefully leaned towards her. Anne, too enchanted by the kitten, let him wrap his arms around her and kiss her head. Tucking her head under his chin, Sephiroth smiled and cradled his princess to his chest. He scanned the room, spotting the way the CDs were shuffled slightly and the remote in a slightly different place and smiled. He ran his fingers through Anne’s hair and sighed. This was perfect.


	15. Chapter 15

Sephiroth watched discretely from Anne’s bedroom door as she played around with the kitten he had bought her last week. She had named him Kizu, a random name which put Sephiroth off guard briefly. It didn’t relate to anything she liked. If anything, Sephiroth was half expecting her to call him Luka. He wasn’t complaining, just a bit confused at first. But she absolutely adored Kizu, she always played with him when he wanted to play. Seeing her smile, it made Sephiroth happy. The way she’d giggle, the way she’d mimic the soft mews Kizu made and the way she’d nuzzle him like she was his mother, it made him smile and happiness wash over him. He leaned against the wall behind him and watched as she let Kizu play with one of her hair ribbons. His smile faltered when Anne got her face too close and Kizu swiped at her cheek. No scratch marks. This startled both kitten and owner. Anne gently took Kizu’s paw and examined it, seeing that Sephiroth had trimmed his claws. Sephiroth believed that he could never be too careful around Anne after all. She was too resourceful to be left with little things that could bring harm to her. Anne huffed.  
“That’s cruel, he shouldn’t have done that to you,” she said to Kizu as she picked him up and cradled him to her chest.  
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.  
“You’re cruel, Anne,” he thought “You’re cruel to me.”  
After all he had done for her, she hadn’t even sent a smile in his direction. No giggle has ever been directed towards him. The life in her eyes would immediately go dull whenever she acknowledged his presence. Those little things that filled Sephiroth to the brim with bliss, she never directed any of it towards him. Sephiroth clenched his fist at the thought and gritted his teeth. She hadn’t even made the effort to respond to his affections. If he stroked her hair after he had dried it, she would flinch and that would sting him. If he kissed her lips, she would stiffen and that made his chest ache. It was as if she was repulsed by him but why should she be? He was handsome, was he not? He was caring, right? But why? Why was she hurting him? Was none of what he did simply good enough for her? Sephiroth shook his head. No, she was modest. Otherwise, why would she want to be with a lesser man like that delinquent? She wasn’t confident, she thought she wasn’t good enough for him, that’s probably why she felt uncomfortable. And with her Asperger Syndrome, she probably didn’t realise that she was hurting him. If not, then why else was she acting like this?   
A soft mew broke his thoughts and he saw Kizu padding over to him. He lifted his eyes to see Anne on the floor, staring at him blankly with the light in her eyes long gone. Despite the surge of discomfort in his gut, Sephiroth smiled and opened the door further, picking Kizu up with one hand and settling himself down next to her. He placed the black kitten on his lap, cocking his head to the side and pushing the hair out of her face.  
“It’s a beautiful day,” he commented “Why don’t we go out into the garden, hm? I know a nice shady spot for this time of day.”  
He traced her cheek as she didn’t respond, the kitten mewing making the only noise along with the birds and the crashing of the waves outside. Anne didn’t stir but shifted uncomfortably when he lay down next to her, his eyes reaching the level of hers as he stroked her hair that she had washed this morning. Kizu began purring as he rotated a couple of times before making himself comfortable in his lap and Anne softly blushed at the sound which made Sephiroth smile wider. She loved the purring of cats more than anything about them and that blush was just so adorable. He held the urge back to lick his lips when he pictured of her beneath him, her whole face flushed in pleasure. He felt his fingers trace her hairline next and sighed.  
“I love you,” he whispered to her for what sounded like the millionth time but it still felt like it hadn’t been said enough “Everything I do for you, it’s out of my love for you, Anne. I love you, more than anything.”  
Anne narrowed her eyes and for the first time, Sephiroth got a glimpse of her anger from those blood red orbs.  
“This isn’t love,” she spoke and despite her tone of malice, Sephiroth revelled in the sound of her voice “This is paedophilia.”  
She winced when Sephiroth abruptly dug his nails into her skin, but not enough to draw blood. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and sat up.  
“Don’t taint this, Anne,” he bit out and she winced, but still kept the spite in her eyes “No matter what you think, I do love you. Unconditionally.”  
“Funny, felt like a sick obsession since the first class I had with you,” Anne muttered and she winced, curling slightly when Sephiroth raised a hand.   
Kizu had ran out of the room the moment he sensed the tension. Sephiroth stared down at Anne’s quivering form as she bit her lip to stop herself from involuntarily apologising. Clenching his raised hand, Sephiroth lowered it and sighed.  
“What is it?” he asked softly “Why won’t you return my love?”  
“The relationship you want is completely wrong,” Anne whimpered “Teachers get arrested for having such a relationship with their pupils.”  
“I stopped being your teacher five months ago,” Sephiroth argued.  
“You stopped being my teacher since the moment I caught you staring at me while I did my work!” Anne raised her voice and sat up “I should have picked something up when you started to keep me behind after school, always finding an excuse to put me into a detention so you could spend more time with me! It’s creepy! It’s wrong! I was fourteen when you first saw me. Fourteen!”  
“Age doesn’t matter when it comes to love,” Sephiroth said firmly as he snatched her hand and laced her fingers with his.  
“Oh don’t give me that!” Anne snapped as she gnashed her teeth at him and tugged to get her hand out of his “How much is the age gap anyway?!”  
“I’ll turn thirty in next week,” Sephiroth announced.  
Anne managed to yank her hand out of his grip and crawl away.  
“Twelve years!” she exclaimed “Can’t you get your head around how wrong your so called ‘love’ is?”  
“And who calls it wrong?” Sephiroth followed her until her back was pressed up against the wardrobe door “Your mother? Your sister? Your friends? Luka?”  
Anne was starting to hyperventilate as he leaned in close and his lips hovered next to her ear.  
“Your father?”  
A slap and scuffle could be heard straight after he pronounced the last syllable. Sephiroth lay on Anne’s bedroom floor as he tenderly rubbed his cheek. He must have struck a nerve, though he expected her to lash out when he mentioned Luka’s name. He got up and wandered downstairs to look for Anne. He paused when he saw that it was six o’clock and picked up the TV remote to check up on the news headlines briefly.  
“…we hope that the flooding in Mideel will clear up soon,” the journalist finished up the last story “Coming up. Police are still searching for the missing girl, Anne Lockhart. The current prime suspect, Oliver Lockhart, is still at large for sexual abuse towards Mary Lockhart, his wife and his own daughter, Anne.”  
Sephiroth’s eyes widened at the last part of the report, tuning out the other details the journalist spoke and switched the TV off.  
“Anne…” he whispered then turned around frantically “Anne!”  
He hadn’t known! He didn’t realise Anne had to go through that with her father! He shouldn’t have brought it up! Oh Gaia, he shouldn’t have reminded her of those unpleasant memories that might have flashed in her mind when he mentioned her father!  
“Anne, Anne, I’m sorry, please, forgive me,” Sephiroth half-called, half-begged as he searched through the first floor, reaching the kitchen area after a while.  
There was a soft mew and Sephiroth looked down to see Kizu pawing at one of the cupboards. He knelt down and opened the cupboards slowly. There was a shift in the plastic containers as Anne scuffled to try and get away from him but he leaned in, brought her into his arms and dragged her out, cradling her to his chest.  
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered “I’m so sorry, please forgive me, my princess. Anne…my Anne…”  
Anne squirmed in his grip and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.  
“Don’t worry, he will not find you here. I’ll protect you, everything will be alright…”  
He closed his eyes as Anne stopped squirming after a while and sighed.  
“I’m so sorry…”


	16. Chapter 16

Sephiroth smiled warmly when he found Anne curled up on the sofa with Kizu lying next to her, sleeping and purring with her.  He sat down next to her, careful not to wake her and switched the television off.  She’d been watching the Silky Lover series, it was about a woman with commitment issues.  It was new, Sephiroth wondered if Anne was watching it intentionally or if she just happened to flick through channels before falling asleep.  He gazed down at her fondly, reaching out and stroking her hair.  He cupped her cheek and licked his lips thoughtfully.  He leaned over her, waking Kizu and making him scamper away, and sighed dreamily.  She was in a violet dress, a colour which suited her in Sephiroth’s eyes.  He tugged at the silver necklace she wore thoughtfully.

“My beautiful Anne…” he whispered dotingly as he straddled her, cupping both of her cheeks “My precious princess…all mine…”

Anne stirred and Sephiroth tensed, prepared to get off her before she opened her eyes but she simply yawned and stretched her arms out.  With a sigh, Sephiroth leaned down and kissed her lips.  His silver hair landed on her face as he lingered over her, biting his lip.  He’d been concerned about her past with her father for some time now.  If she had been sexually abused then she might not be willing to sleep with him when the time comes.  He might need to coax her, help her get over her trauma.  But why did she call for her father when she was lonely?  It puzzled Sephiroth to no end.  Despite what he did, did Anne still love her father?  Sephiroth grimaced and leaned down to kiss her lips again.  Maybe he could ask her about what she could remember?  See how far the abuse went.  Try to help her through it.  After all, he wanted to express his passion to her.  He wanted to impregnate her, start a family together.  Sephiroth lifted his lips and bit his lip as he idly pulled down the collar of her dress to see her skin.  Licking his lips hungrily, he succumbed to his desire to suppress to need to take her then and there.

 

* * *

 

_“You’re a good girl.”_

Anne was scared of that voice, she was scared of the dark.  She was scared of human contact.  She didn’t want to be here.

_“Stay still now, Daddy’s going to make you feel good.”_

“No, stop,” Anne whispered as she lay helpless, unable to move.

Tongue, saliva, teeth, pain, claustrophobia.  Anne tried to block out everything.  She didn’t want to be here, she wanted to disappear, she was scared!

 _“You’re so cute,”_ Anne’s eyes flew open when she heard Cloud’s voice _“Ssh…don’t tell Tifa.”_

“No, let go, let go!” Anne screamed as hands held her down and she writhed under their grip “Tifa!  Mom!  Mommy!”

 _“Anne, you love me, right?”_ Luka’s voice came next.

“Luka?” Anne whispered and gasped as an arm went around her throat.

_“And if you love me…you should have sex with me.”_

“No…” Anne whispered in disbelief “No, no, no, that’s not love!”

Hands everywhere, pulling at her hair, holding her down.  She screamed and screamed as the voices began laughing, the sound spinning around her head until…until…

 

* * *

 

Anne’s eyes flew open and she froze when she felt someone over her.  Biting and sucking on her neck.  This was reality.  Anne’s heart began racing erratically, too fast to be healthy.  Her body trembled violently as sweat coated her whole body.  She couldn’t breathe…she couldn’t breathe, her chest was crushing inwards into her lungs, she was drowning!  But somehow…Anne managed to find the air to scream and kick and claw the air.  The person drew away immediately and Anne tried to get up and run.  But she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t see straight, tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was so scared.  She was going to die, she was going to die, Odin help her!

“Anne!”

Anne turned her head as hands gripped her shoulders and turned her towards their owner.  She felt sick, she wanted to throw up, what was going on?

“Anne, calm down,” they said, Anne couldn’t see who was talking “You’re having a panic attack, I need you to relax.”

Anne couldn’t speak but she tried to get away from them.  The hands gripped her shoulders tighter.

“I need you to slow your breathing down, try breathing with me.”

Anne heard slow, heavy breathing and tried to suck in a breath.  It took a few tries but she managed to sloppily match the breathing pattern that the person was doing.

“Good girl,” they praised “Good girl, there, nice and steady, concentrate on your breathing.  Feel calm and in control.  Good girl, good girl…”

Anne burst down into sobs and she was cradled into a strong chest.

“I want my mom,” she whimpered “Mommy…I want my mommy!”

“Ssh…ssh…focus on your breathing, Anne…”

Anne closed her eyes and took more breaths in, her body trembling violently.

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth watched as Anne fell back to sleep and let a single tear of his own trail down his face.  His poor Anne, he shouldn’t have done that.  To think she actually had a panic attack…  Sephiroth buried his nose into her hair and rocked her back and forth.

“Anne…my Anne…”

It pained him to see her like that.  Tears streaming down her cheeks, struggling to breathe and violently shaking.  She was absolutely terrified of anything that might have reminded her of the abuse.  Sephiroth stroked her love-bite thoughtfully and smiled.  Despite all that, he was happy to see it on her neck.  He closed his eyes and kissed Anne’s head as Kizu came out from his hiding place, mewing for attention.  Sephiroth looked down at him with a smile before scooping him up and placing him on Anne’s lap.  Kizu purred as Sephiroth sighed, threading his fingers through Anne’s hair.

“Anne…” he whispered softly “I’ll protect you, no matter what.  It’s alright, we’ll get through this.  Together.  You don’t have to worry about anything anymore…”

He smiled happily and kissed her forehead.

“My…sweet little princess…”

Gaia could only know whether his eyes were filled with the sincere love of his heart or the dark lust of his desires.


	17. Chapter 17

“I’ll see you tonight, my princess,” Sephiroth pecked Anne’s head as he gathered his bags “I’ve left some tomato soup in the fridge, you only need to heat it up for about two to three minutes and there’s some ice-cream in the freezer for afterwards.”

“Hm.”

“You’ve still got the Rose Phantom series to read,” Sephiroth nudged the pile of books on the coffee table towards her “And you have the TV as usual.”

Anne narrowed her eyes.  He’d disabled the news channel so she had no way in knowing what was going on in the world.  She couldn’t keep track of the progress of her kidnapping case.  Anne jumped when Sephiroth appeared at her feet and smiled up at her.

“I truly love you, Anne,” he preached his love as he normally did before he went to work “Always.”

Anne stared down at him, not believing him as always.  She flinched inwardly when he leaned up and kissed her lips.  Then he was at the door with his bags, glancing over his shoulder.

“You _will_ eat your lunch, won’t you?” he said and Anne flinched again.

She nodded and Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.  Swallowing, she breathed in.

“I will.”

“You will what?”

“I will eat my lunch,” Anne said, just like a trained puppy “…S-Sephiroth…”

Sephiroth’s smile had never been creepier as he praised her then left, locking the door behind him.  Anne clenched her fists.  It had been two months since he had brought her here.  She fiddled with her fingers thoughtfully as Kizu scrambled up onto the sofa and nudged her arm.  She ignored him and glanced over at the windows where she could see the garden.  She wasn’t even allowed to go out to the balcony in her room for some fresh air.  As long as Sephiroth was at work, she wasn’t allowed to open a window to keep cool.  Kizu mewed to get her attention and she just tickled his ears as a response.  Her eyes landed on the books Sephiroth had bought her the other day and picked up the top one to look at the cover.

 _“I never penned you to be an avid reader, Anne,”_ Luka commented as he sat on the coffee table.

“I don’t read often because my mother discouraged me from getting any ideas for my stories when I was younger,” Anne replied as she looked up at him.

 _“You can’t blame all your problems on everyone else, Anne!”_ her mother lectured by the kitchen area.

“But you did discourage me, you wanted me to spend more of my time studying and preparing my future,” Anne argued.

 _“You complain too much, Anne.  It is an unattractive feature,”_ Tifa scolded from the door that Sephiroth had just walked out of.

“You complain about Cloud’s punctuality,” Anne pointed out.

_“What’s your problem?”_

Anne jumped when she remembered the way Cloud had confronted her shortly after she and Luka had gotten together.  He sat in Luka’s place with a concerned frown.  Anne remembered how scared she had been when he confronted her in the slums, she’d been out to buy some Materia for her bracer.  He was looming over her, his eyes revealing that he was going to interrogate her.

_“Why did you react like that to Tifa when she was expressing her concerns about Luka?”_

“Expressing her concerns?” Anne narrowed her eyes “She was attacking him verbally.”

_“She was protecting you, you should know that Luka’s kind isn’t the right crowd to hang around with.”_

“And how would you know about Luka’s kind?” Anne asked as Kizu squirmed into her lap and purred, curling up into a small fluffy ball.

_“What do you mean?”_

“You were horrible when Tifa brought you home one day,” Anne snarled “Rude, intrusive, a massive sword to show off with a brand new motorcycle which you affectionately named Fenrir.  You stunk of cologne as well, I hated it whenever you decided to drop by.”

_“Anne, you’re exaggerating.”_

“Stop it,” Anne snarled “You were always like that.  Like everyone else.  So damn patronizing.”

_“Anne, listen…”_

“No, you listen!” Anne barked “You say I’m too young for a relationship but look here, buster, Tifa was fifteen when you followed her home and fucked her brains out!”

 _“Anne!”_ Cloud’s eyes hardened.

“I’m seventeen and I can take care of myself!”

_“We only want to protect you.”_

“I don’t want to be protected!  If you want me to grow up then leave me alone!”

_“You say you want to be protected but here you are, trapped like a little bird.”_

Wait, he didn’t say that…  Anne blinked as Cloud raised a sceptical eyebrow.

 _“Here you are, playing hostage to your creepy history teacher,”_ he said with a triumphant smirk.

“No-one believed me when I told them about him,” Anne whispered as tears pooled her eyes.

 _“Of course not,”_ Cloud laughed _“Who would want to listen to you?  Such a pathetic little girl, poor little Anne.”_

“Shut up…” Anne whispered.

_“Always having her head up in the clouds.  Always making up stories to have people glance at her, even for ten seconds.”_

“Leave me alone,” Anne whined as Kizu mewed and she plugged her ears.

_“You don’t even put up a fight against him.”_

“He’s too strong!”

_“Tch, how weak.”_

Anne screamed, sending Kizu running off and lunged for the illusion of Cloud.  Of course, she went straight through and her thrown weight smashed the coffee table in half.  The glass dug into her skin and she gasped at the pain, feeling the satisfaction and shock.  Blood stained her clothes and Anne looked around carefully, grateful that Kizu hadn’t been hurt.  She then gazed at the mess and began shaking.  Sephiroth was going to be furious when he got back.

_“Hide, Anne, hide!”_

Anne needed no more encouragement from Luka as she stumbled to her feet and ran upstairs.  She looked around frantically then decided to run to her bedroom to hide in her bathroom cupboard, pushing the toiletries inside away.  She curled up and pulled the fragments of glass out of her body.  She hissed and pressed her hands onto her cuts, whimpering softly and stuffing the glass shards into the nearest bottle to hide them.  She didn’t embrace the idea of self-harm but if Sephiroth would prevent her in doing so, she would take pleasure in rebelling against him.  She never liked being told what to do anyway.  Anne started to feel dizzy and relaxed in her awkward position to slowly go to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth heard mental bells ring the moment he saw blood on the carpet when he came back from the university.  He saw the smashed coffee table, his breathing getting heavy and panicky.  He didn’t think she’d be strong enough to smash it!  His eyes followed the trail from the table and up the stairs.  Kizu was at the top of the staircase, mewing because he couldn’t get down after going up the staircase.  Sephiroth went upstairs and followed the blood to Anne’s bedroom.  His heart pounded when he rushed into the bathroom, his throat growing dry when he saw a bloody handprint on the bathroom cupboard.  He snapped the doors open and there was a soft jerk of a limb to indicate that the girl inside was still alive.  Her eyes stared at him fearfully as she shrunk back.

“Oh, Anne!” Sephiroth sighed as he snatched her by the shoulders and dragged her out.

Anne whimpered in pain and his eyes widened at the splotches of blood on her torso.

“Oh, Anne…” he sighed.

“Acci…dent…” Anne breathed “Didn’t…I…”

“Ssh, ssh…” Sephiroth whispered as he carried her to her bedroom “It’s going to be alright, let’s just get these seen to.”

Anne was too feeble to protest as he undressed her then brought out some bandages.  He dressed her wounds tightly, kissing her forehead.

“Anne, how long have you been like this?” he asked “Why haven’t you made any attempt to treat the wounds?”

“M-Morning?” Anne’s eyes darted to the window to see it had gotten dark outside “I…scared…s-s-so scared…”

“What of?” Sephiroth frowned.

“You…”

Sephiroth withdraw, blinking in surprise and his chest ached.

“Me?”

Anne closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

“You get…so angry…” her voice was wavering “You…you would jump to the c-conclusion that I…I had done it on pur-purpose.”

Sephiroth leaned back and closed his eyes.  He grimaced and shook his head.

“Oh, my poor Anne,” he murmured and opened his eyes to look down at her “I’m sorry that I have lost my temper in front of you.”

“It was…it was an accident…” Anne whimpered and her fists clenched nervously.

“It’s alright, my sweet, I believe you,” Sephiroth soothed and petted her wrist “How did it happen?”

“Fell.”

Anne took a shaky breath in then snapped her eyes open.

“Lunch,” she whimpered “I…I forgot…I…”

Sephiroth pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“I’ll bring it up, you can have it for your dinner,” he whispered “You will need to consume a lot of liquids from now on, to help recover.”

“I’m…”

“Ssh…”

 _“Please don’t apologize to me, my Anne,”_ he thought as he kissed her forehead before getting up and going downstairs to heat up the soup and feed Kizu _“Don’t look so scared, please don’t look up at me as if I’m a beast.  My beautiful princess, I love you.  Everything I do is for you.  My Anne.”_

Sephiroth stirred the warm soup before taking it up to Anne’s bedroom.  He found that she had dropped off to sleep and smiled.  He sat down by her bedside and picked her hand up to press his lips to her knuckles again.  He watched as she stirred in her sleep, her eyebrows furrowing.

“Help…” she uttered softly.

Sephiroth grimaced, knowing that she needed her rest, so left her to dream and recover.


	18. Chapter 18

Anne shifted uncomfortably as Sephiroth wrapped his arms around her body and lay them down on the sofa.  A bowl of popcorn was placed in her lap and Sephiroth pressed play to start the film.  Kizu was curled up on his own little cushion on the armchair nearby, purring and sleeping.  He was growing steadily, eighteen weeks old now.  He was getting more active now, tiring himself more and more.  The sleeping kitten didn’t even stir when the opening music came on.  Sephiroth stroked where Anne had her cuts on her torso and kissed her cheek.  He reached into the bowl and took a handful of popcorn.  He popped a piece into his mouth before pressing another into Anne’s lips.  Anne took the piece and he smiled, smelling her hair briefly as they reclined further.  After five minutes, Sephiroth noticed that Anne hadn’t touched the popcorn, or even eat the piece he had given her.  She had taken it out and began pulling it apart.  She tensed up when he paused the film.

“Is everything alright, Anne?” he asked and she hastily ate the torn up piece of popcorn.

He sat up and felt her quivering, fingering the edge of the bowl.

“It’s your favourite flavour, isn’t it?” he asked “Sweet and salted popcorn?”

Anne nodded, a bit too fast to be convincing.  Sephiroth frowned as he adjusted her on her lap to look at her.  She didn’t meet his gaze as he brushed the hair out of her face.

“Would you like a different snack?”

She shook her head.

“Different film?  I thought you were eager to watch the new Nassim Bilverdi film when it came out on DVD.”

Anne shook her head again.  Sephiroth tilted his head curiously and frowned.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Uh…I…I…”

She turned her head to the armchair opposite where Kizu sat.  Sephiroth watched her face expressions from thoughtful to confused then to a soft smile.  He turned his head towards the armchair.  Was she daydreaming?  Or was this a behaviour that she had developed whilst she was with him?

“This is an action movie,” she explained softly, catching him off-guard “It ruins the mood if we just lie down on the sofa like some couple watching a rom-com.”

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.  He tightened his grip around her, making her wince and leaned into her ear.

“How would you like to sit then?” he whispered.

“S-Side to side,” Anne murmured.

Sephiroth slowly let go of Anne and watched her shuffle across to the other side of the sofa.  He felt a bit cold as she curled her knees into her chest and began eating some popcorn.  He resumed the film and shifted slightly when he began missing having Anne close to him.  He observed her out of the corner of his eye, pressing herself to the side of the sofa and setting the bowl in between them.  He clenched a fist in annoyance but endured the separation for about half an hour.  His hand twitched when Anne balked and closed her eyes when someone’s eyes got gorged out and he reached out to comfort her.  But she sensed this, opened her eyes to see his outstretched hand and jumped onto the sofa armrest.  Sephiroth hesitated before reaching out for the remote and pausing the film.

“Anne, I would like to talk,” he announced and Anne tensed “You’re not in trouble, I just want to discuss something.”

He looked up at her and leaned back.

“I want you to talk to me about your father,” he said.

“I never had a father,” Anne said quickly.

“Yes, you did, Anne.  Oliver Lockhart.  He was arrested when you were about eight?”

Anne shook her head furiously.

“No, I didn’t have a father!” she insisted.

“Anne, I know this must be hard for you,” Sephiroth said “A common defence mechanism that the mind has is denial or repression.  I know what happened when you were just a child, Anne.  I understand, it may have been traumatic for your mind to take…”

“I never had a father!” Anne raised her voice.

Sephiroth stood and snatched her wrist when she tried to run off and pulled her back down into the sofa, gripping her shoulders.

“Anne, listen to me,” he said calmly as Anne struggled in his grip.

“The only father I had was imaginary,” Anne protested “I never had a father figure!  My mom and Tifa raised me, there was no father there!”

“Anne, calm down,” Sephiroth soothed as she began hyperventilating “Now, you know that isn’t true.”

“I had no father!” Anne cried out.

“Anne, look at me.”

Anne turned away, her eyes squeezed shut.  Sephiroth tilted his head to the side and sighed.

“Your whole life has been based around fantasises, hasn’t it?” he said as he brushed the hair out of her face “Instead of your real father, you created an imaginary father who would look after you and not abuse you like your real father…”

“He didn’t abuse me,” Anne sobbed “He took advantage of me!”

“That counts as abuse,” Sephiroth started.

“No, he never hurt me, he just took advantage of my naivety and gullibility,” Anne gritted her teeth “I didn’t think it was wrong until…”

She pried open her tear-stained eyes and stared ahead.

“He never did anything extreme like actually rape me,” she murmured “It was just his fingers and tongue.  He made me do stuff too.  I didn’t think it was wrong, even though it was so disgusting.”

“Anne, you don’t have to tell me everything,” Sephiroth whispered as he cradled her to his chest.

“Wait…” Anne frowned “I remember…when my mother found out, he tried to run away with me but the police found him and he…he never was arrested.”

“What?” Sephiroth frowned.

“The…the news said he’s missing because the police caught us on the boat we had taken to leave to Mideel.  He fell into the ocean and…the police took me and lied to my mother.  I never remembered any of it…”

Sephiroth ran his fingers through her hair and rocked her.  She pushed him away and stood up.

“I’m going to bed,” she muttered and ran upstairs.

Sephiroth watched her run off and sighed softly.  He switched the television off and lay back, fiddling with his hair thoughtfully. 

“Anne…” he whispered and smiled softly “It’s going to be alright.”

He glanced at the package that had arrived earlier and grinned wider.  Just two more months to go, then it will be his princess’s eighteen birthday.


	19. Chapter 19

Sephiroth sat in the armchair opposite where Anne was sitting, Kizu in her lap as she read one of the books her bought her.  He had a sketchpad on his lap, but to her it looked like a notebook.  She probably thought he was planning one of his lessons.  But he was actually sketching her.  She just looked so magnificent in that dark blue dress with that diamond necklace and that cute, large dark blue ribbon.  Sephiroth took delight in the way her eyes followed along the lines in the book, the way they glazed over when she began daydreaming again whilst not really paying attention to the story and how her tiny fingers stroked Kizu’s black and white fur. 

There was one thing which disturbed him though.  Sometimes, she’d look over the book and stare at the sofa as if there was someone there.  Her eyes glinted with mirth, sometimes with mocking scepticism, as if she was having a mental chat with someone that he couldn’t see.  She was escaping into her own fantasy world, to get away from him.  Sephiroth didn’t like it, she couldn’t live away from reality forever.  However, he wasn’t sure how he would talk to her about it.  How could he help her get over her trauma and come to accept reality?  He could take a psychodynamic approach, lie her down on the sofa and talk to her from behind then have her throw her negative thoughts at him.  He could also do what he had been doing to help her grow comfortable in her new home, give her little rewards whenever she behaved good. 

His thoughts were broken when Anne winced, gripping the book cover.

“Anne?” he called.

“I-I-Incubus,” Anne stuttered out then slammed the book shut “T-T-Tore this boy’s s-stomach out and ate h-his intestines…”

It must have been pretty graphic, Anne looked so pale.  She was shaking, oh his poor princess.  Sephiroth glanced down at the finished sketch, smiled then got up to walk over to her.  Anne flinched violently when he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Here, what do you think?”

He tore the page out of the sketch book and showed it to her.  Anne froze up when she saw the sketch of her.  Sephiroth watched her trace the picture slowly with her finger and withdraw it a bit hastily, shaking her head.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were drawing me?” she asked, her arms shaking slightly.

“I wouldn’t have been able to draw you in your natural environment.”

“It’s…creepy…”

Sephiroth withdrew his hand with a hurt look as she lay the picture down on the new coffee table, he had bought a wooden one rather than a glass one.  Sephiroth bit his lip and stroked the back of the chair, feeling a bit awkward.

“How many more…have you…?”

“A few,” Sephiroth confessed.

Anne looked up at him, her hands still shaking.

“How long?”

Sephiroth took in a breath.  It felt a bit uncomfortable, admittedly, to talk about the days where he had watched her, stalked her and indulged himself with pictures of her, both photos and drawings.  Sephiroth let his fingers drift down and play with her hair nervously.

“A while.”

“I would like an exact amount of time,” Anne bit out.

Sephiroth got to his knees and took her hand to kiss her knuckles.

“Anne, please, there’s no need to dwell on the past,” he said as Anne shifted away from him “It doesn’t matter, I will tell you whenever I wish to draw you beforehand, I promise.”

“Why do…you have to draw me?” Anne whispered as she tried to slip her hand out of his grip.

“Because, you’re so beautiful,” Sephiroth smiled.

Anne flinched and yanked her hand out of his grip.

“Don’t…call me that,” she said, her lips nearly curling into a snarl.

“What?” Sephiroth smiled wider “Beautiful?”

Anne shrunk away, onto the armrest of the armchair.

“Stop it,” she begged “Please, just…don’t…”

“Why?” Sephiroth asked as he rose and gripped her shoulders firmly “Don’t you like being called beautiful?”

“I’m just…not…” Anne stuttered as she struggled to get out of his grip.

“But he called you beautiful, didn’t he?” Sephiroth snarled and Anne flinched, shaking her head.

“Just cute,” she murmured and looked away “He called me pretty sometimes and other times…”

“ _Liar_.”

Anne flinched and whimpered when Sephiroth towered over her.

“He called you beautiful that night,” he snarled “You never protested, you never objected…”

“He was my boyfriend, of course I’m going to let a few compliments slide,” Anne gripped his wrists.

“I’m your partner now, won’t you let my compliments ‘slide’?” Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.

“You’re my kidnapper, nothing more,” Anne snarled.

She flinched when Sephiroth raised a hand to strike her.  Sephiroth’s hand quivered and he exhaled sharply through his nose.

“Anne, you need to stop,” he said calmly “Stop this denial, stop this rejection…I just want to make you happy and nothing is going to work if you just keep refusing me.”

“ _You_ want to make _me_ happy?”

Anne scoffed and looked away with a scowl.

“Funny way to try and get me happy by kidnapping me and treating me like your pet.”

“How am I treating you like a pet?” Sephiroth frowned.

“Please, don’t think that I don’t know the way you try to train me like some dog by giving me stuff I like whenever I do something you want,” Anne spat “You think it’s alright to do that?  To condition me to liking you and expect me to love you unconditionally?”

Sephiroth tightened his grip on Anne’s shoulder and set his jaw.

“Anne…I…I hadn’t known you felt like that…”

“What did you bloody think I felt like?!” Anne raised her voice “Do you have any idea what it’s like to feel trapped in here?  To have to endure unwanted affections from you?”

Sephiroth shook his head and gripped her shoulder tighter, making her wince out of pain rather than repulsion.

“Anne, you need to change the way you see this,” he said softly “Just move on from your life in Midgar, you rarely went out of the house anyway.”

“Yeah, because you kept on stalking me!” Anne protested “I was absolutely terrified to leave the house and know you would be behind me somewhere, watching my every move.”

“This is such a different environment to Midgar anyway,” Sephiroth turned away from her “You would struggle to adapt…”

“And do you think locking me up in here would be just like my life in Midgar?”

“This conversation is over,” Sephiroth said firmly and turned to her so he could give her a stern glare “Now, it’ll be lunchtime soon.  I’ll make some miso soup and you can continue putting baubles up on the tree.”

Anne gave a venomous glare at the tree which made Sephiroth smile softly before heading over to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients.


	20. Chapter 20

Since she was about eleven years old, Anne completely loathed Christmas.  One, it was a signal that it was only one week until her birthday, another event that she absolutely despised.  Two, she found out about the Father Christmas conspiracy to keep children’s lives happy and fun.  Really?  Who just lies to their children about some warm and loving guy who makes toys then comes and delivers them at Christmas when they’re sleeping?  The answer, most of the families that could afford to buy presents for the children.  Three, Anne started developing her self-consciousness and began hating being at parties and any other social events.  So when Christmas came around and they had to go to her mother’s friend’s home in Kalm, Anne unconditionally detested it.  There was always so many people there.  People she didn’t know, people she’d seen before and people which she knew but didn’t enjoy their company.  It was utterly horrible.  Four, Anne found it fun writing cards and hanging up decorations.  Then after a few years it became quite a monotonous job and Anne just completely gave up bothering and putting in an effort.  Five, the Christmas carols.  Anne loved singing.  She hated praising the birth of the Messiah, supposedly sent from Gaia herself.  Six, the presents.  Anne didn’t particularly like to be spoilt.  She didn’t really want much anyway and yet she’d be given quite a lot of junk.  I mean, who gives a thirteen year old girl hair curlers?  Seven, the Christmas tree.  Not only was it a fire hazard, it took a lot of work and money to find and get one, it sheds its pines everywhere and Anne had to climb many a ladder to decorate it and nearly break her neck in the process.

Now that she was going to be eighteen in seven days, Anne thought that Sephiroth wasn’t going to bother with the presents and expect her to be civil, joyous and probably eat some liquidised turkey or something.  When she stretched her body out, reaching to grab a pillow to pull over her head, she realised that something heavy was weighing on her legs.  She opened her eyes, sat up and stared at the large red stocking that was sprawled across her bed.

“You have got to be joking,” she muttered sullenly.

What did he get her?  Pictures of her?  Drawings of her?  A whole book of love poems dedicated to her?  More dresses that make her uncomfortable?  …Lingerie?  Anne winced at the idea.  The more she stared at the stocking, the less she wanted to see what was inside.  So she shoved it to the side and got up.  She wandered over to the chair by her wardrobe which had a new dress on, one she hadn’t seen before.  It had the usual festive colours, red and green, with sequins, it had a decent length but it might show a bit of her cleavage, oh and look.  He’s given her stockings with some ankle boots.  And a brooch.  And a hair ribbon.  And a note saying that he loved her.  Anne scowled.  He spent too much money.  Probably another tactic to get her attracted to him.  Carefully, she picked the dress up by its shoulders and glared at it in contempt.  After five minutes of glaring, she took her nightgown off and got dressed.

The clothes fit perfectly, of course.  Anne pulled the skirt of the dress down a bit then carefully stepped out of the room.  She could smell pancakes which had her frowning in confusion.  Sephiroth never made pancakes before.  Anne began descending the staircase and froze when she heard the jingle of bells.

“Mew.”

Anne’s eyes softened when she saw Kizu padding towards the staircase happily, wearing a collar with a bell on it.  Kizu heard the noise and stopped, pawing at his collar which made it jingle even more.  Anne smiled adoringly at him.  Her smile quickly faded when she heard Sephiroth’s low chuckle.  She gripped the stair railing fearfully.  She didn’t want to go down there.  She didn’t want to be cuddled and stroked.  She didn’t want his kisses or that smile which made her stomach churn.  She just wanted to go home.  Even though it was Christmas, Anne figured she could tolerate another brat pulling her pigtails for the year, just as long as she was far away from Sephiroth. 

_“I guess things would be more fun if we spent Christmas together.”_

Anne turned her head to see Luka sitting on the top step with a wistful smile.

_“It’s usually just me, Luna and our parents.  It’s pretty boring.  We should go and have a drive around, see if we can do anything worthwhile.”_

He always talked as if their relationship was going to last forever.  He talked about Halloween, dressing up in pairing costumes.  Staying up all night at New Year’s Eve to celebrate her eighteenth birthday.  Go travelling for a gap year together.  See if they could get into a university together.  If not then they would go and get bounty hunting jobs around the world.  If Anne hadn’t been kidnapped by Sephiroth, he probably would have gone and proposed to her.

“Anne.”

Anne looked down to see Sephiroth waiting at the bottom of the stairs, smiling widely up at her.  She swallowed nervously as his eyes roamed up and down her figure.

“You look beautiful.”

Anne bristled.  She was really starting to hate that word.  Sephiroth held his hand out to her and she obediently walked down the rest of the stairs.  She refused to take his hand so he brought it to her face, tucking some hair out of her face.  He held out his other hand and she placed the hair ribbon in it.  She turned and let him caress her hair fondly before tying the ribbon in.  He pressed a kiss to the back of her head and brought his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly.

“Merry Christmas.”

Again, Anne bristled.  Sephiroth led her to the table where he set her pancakes down with a fork and knife.  Anne stared at the utensils in wonder, remembering that she hadn’t seen them for so long.

“I know you won’t try to do anything stupid,” Sephiroth said as he sat down in front of her.

Anne flinched and nodded.  After coating the pancakes with honey and sugar, Anne gingerly picked up the forbidden utensils and ate her breakfast.  Sephiroth’s gaze was firmly fixed on her the whole time.  The more he watched, the more she felt like she was in a prison.  When she finished and he took the plate away to wash it, she noticed the pile of presents on the coffee table.  She turned her head away to avoid looking at them, praying that they were probably some toys Sephiroth wrapped up and was going to take them to a children’s charity or something.

“You many open your presents now, Anne.”

“But…the stocking…” Anne said.

“Those presents are all for you,” Sephiroth placed a hand on her shoulder.

“No…I don’t want them…”

Sephiroth chuckled and took her hand, jerking her up to her feet.

“You’re so modest,” he sighed and cupped her cheek “And so sweet.”

Anne turned away from him to glare at the floor.  She heard him heave a sigh.

“Anne, I want to spoil you.  You’re my princess.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“But you are my princess,” Sephiroth insisted “Mine and mine alone.”

Anne shivered and stepped away from him.

“Don’t,” she said a bit more firmly.

Sephiroth sighed and took her hands.  Anne let him lead her to the sofa and set her down with a small box, wrapped in purple paper with a darker purple ribbon.  When she opened it to reveal a diamond ring, she jumped when Sephiroth leaned over and took it out of its box.  He then took her _left_ hand and slipped it on her _ring_ finger, smiling widely.  Anne was going to have another freaking panic attack.

“What…what…?” she began hyperventilating.

Was he intending to _marry_ her?  Was this his _proposal_?  Was he fucking _insane_?!

“Anne, we’ve known each other for so long and I think it’s time that we took our relationship to the next level,” Sephiroth said.

“But I…no…I…ah…”

Her heart was beating out of control.  Her chest was crushing inwards into her lungs.  The reality sunk in.  He truly was going to rape her.

“Anne, calm down,” Sephiroth leaned over to grip her shoulder as her whole body shook.

“No, I d-!” Anne choked and began struggling to breathe “Don’t make m-!  I d-!  No, no, no, no!  You c-!  I wo-!  Please, just d-!”

“Anne, ssh, ssh…” Sephiroth soothed as he pulled her into his embrace “It’s alright.  It’s alright.  It’s going to be alright.  You’re not breathing, Anne.  Please, breathe with me.  Deeply.  In and out, yes, that’s a good girl.”

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth closed his eyes and hugged Anne tight as she began crying loudly.  He leaned his cheek against her head.

“Anne, we’re going to be trying something called systematic desensitisation,” he said calmly as he combed his fingers through her hair “We don’t have to do it today but it will be necessary to start tomorrow.”

He reclined on the sofa and let Anne lie on him, holding her close.

“It’s not going to hurt, it’s going to help,” he said soothingly “I love you very much, Anne.  I’m going to help you get over your trauma.”

“Please…don’t…”

Sephiroth lifted her chin and kissed her lips to cut off her protest.

“Anne, you’re going to be eighteen very soon,” he smiled “And on that day, we’ll get married.”

“No…please…”

“Anne, I love you,” Sephiroth smiled wider, if that could be possible “We’ll be so happy together.”

He kissed her lips again and sighed happily, ignorant to Anne’s violent shivering and panic.


	21. Chapter 20

“Aaah!”

Anne quivered then collapsed on the bed, crossing her legs, shivering and sobbing.  Sephiroth withdrew his head from under the skirt of her nightgown and smiled at her.

“Was that nice, Anne?” he asked as he licked his fingers clean.

“No, it was disgusting!” Anne spat “Don’t do it again!  Please, no more…”

She flinched when he loomed over her, stroking her flushed cheeks.

“But your body enjoyed it,” he whispered “It yearns for attention, my attention.”

“No, it doesn’t!” Anne protested.

Sephiroth pulled her into his lap and nuzzled her happily.  He licked his lips, remembering how he had driven her to her undoing and combed his fingers through her hair.

“Look, you’re not having panic attacks anymore,” he said and Anne stilled “Your phobia of human contact is going away.  I made it better, Anne.”

Anne flinched in disgust as Sephiroth turned her head and pressed his lips to hers.  Sephiroth was a very patient man, even when she protested with the growing intimacies.  He had thoroughly enjoyed this past week.  Getting to know her body, getting to know her, Sephiroth couldn’t wait until tomorrow night when it would finally be her birthday and they’d finally start practicing to have a family.  She struggled with coping and being pushed out of her comfort zone but he was there for her.  He made sure to comfort her, soothe her tears away and rock her to sleep as she steadily calmed down.  Sephiroth pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers.

“My princess,” he sighed “I love you so much.”

Anne glared at him fiercely but he ignored it, smiling and kissing her nose.  He then scooped on arm under her legs, brought the other around her shoulders and lifted her up.  She protested feebly due to the lack of energy she now had but quickly surrendered to resting her head on his shoulder.  He kissed her forehead dotingly, watching her twitch then carried her onto her bedroom balcony.

“Look down the coast, Anne,” he told her and directed her gaze to the cluster of lights where Wutai was “Wutai is famous for their fireworks.”

“I…know…” Anne murmured and Sephiroth smiled.

“Yes, we went through it during GCSE History,” Sephiroth urged for her to speak more “Do you remember anything else about Wutai?”

“…A man named Flint…invented fireworks by accident during the Wutai war against Midgar.  They were originally used to send signals to the different armies.  Then a man named Jasper-ah.”

The first firework was set off, cutting Anne’s speech off.  The night sky was then lit up with colours that reflected their light on her dull and blank face.  Sephiroth set her down on the chair and walked back into her bedroom.  He picked up a white teddy bear with a black silk ribbon tied around its neck and looked around.  After he and Anne finally consummate their unofficial marriage, he will plan to turn this room into the nursery.  He would let Anne have a say in what they should have for their child.  He closed his eyes and reminded himself of the fantasy he had not long ago.  His Anne in the nursery, still a bit rounded from the pregnancy, cradling their child in her arms.  That child will bring them closer, Sephiroth was sure of it.  And finally she will smile up at him, she will give her undivided love and affection to him.  He will finally trust her to leave the mansion and come back.  Sephiroth gave a blissful smile as he snapped himself out of the fantasy and turned to walk back onto the balcony. 

“Happy Birthday, my sweet,” he said as he placed the bear onto her lap.

Anne stared at the bear with dull eyes and picked it up to hold it up.

“…Same make as my old teddy bear,” she whispered.

“I knew you were very much attached to that bear,” Sephiroth said “And I know this won’t have any sentimental value but I thought you would like it.”

“…”

Anne lowered the bear back onto her lap and continued watching the fireworks.  She didn’t protest as Sephiroth lifted her back up, sat down in her seat and settled her back onto his lap sideways.  He pulled her knees close with one hand and used the other to cradle Anne’s head, his lips resting on her cooling skin.

“I really do love you,” he murmured “I only wish for your happiness.”

Anne scowled and he tightened his grip.

“I mean it.”

“You don’t care for my happiness,” Anne said “All you care about is your own.”

“Anne, that isn’t true.”

Anne didn’t argue any further but the stubborn look in her eyes told him that she was convinced that he didn’t care for her.  He caressed her cheek, giving her a forlorn look.

“Mine,” he murmured “No-one else’s.”

Anne turned away from his touch and he withdrew his hand with a sigh.  Ten minutes later, when the fireworks display had finished, Sephiroth carried Anne to her bed, lying her down on the mattress.  Anne turned away from him as he took his shirt off and slid in with her, bringing the blankets around them.  He’d been doing this to help ease Anne’s fear so it became a routine for them.  He’d let her crawl into bed, he’d slide in with her and she’ll just lie as still as a doll.  In an ideal world, she would turn and cuddle him back as he brought his arms around her warm body.  He cherished this, being able to hold her and she’d be too tired to resist him.  He kissed her head and whispered in her ear.

“I’d travel to the far corners of Gaia for you.”

Anne didn’t respond as he brought her into his chest, tucked her head under his chin and gazed ahead thoughtfully.  He tangled his legs with hers and sighed deeply.  It only took a few minutes but soon Anne was breathing deeply, fast asleep.  Sephiroth lay still, holding her close to him and listened to the steady breaths of his beloved.  He smiled to himself and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep with her.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning : explicit scene at the end

Every single morning, he wanted to wake up to see her in his arms.  Sephiroth opened his eyes and smiled down at Anne who was curled up against him.  He ran his hand through her hair thoughtfully.  His fingers got snagged in some of her knots and she let out a moan of discomfort in her sleep.  Sephiroth kissed her brow dotingly, sighing softly.

“I love you,” he whispered to her as she slumbered on “I truly do.  No matter what you think.”

He caressed her face thoughtfully, wishing to just lie with her for the rest of the day.  But no, today was a very important day, he had plenty to do.  Sephiroth reluctantly withdrew himself from Anne and rose from the bed.  He picked up his shirt and left her alone to go through his daily routine.  Before he went down to make breakfast as usual, he picked up the package that was on his bed.  With a dark smile, he opened it to examine the wedding dress that was wrapped up in its plastic bag.  Perfect, simply perfect.  He grinned without restraint as he took the mannequin that stood in the corner of his room and carried them over to Anne’s room.  After putting the dress on the mannequin and making sure everything just looked perfect, he smiled at Anne’s sleeping form.  Then he went down to make breakfast and feed Kizu.

“Mew,” Kizu mewed after a while when he finished eating.

Sephiroth turned from the waffles he was making and smiled as the kitten began climbing the staircase to try and get Anne out of bed.  He stopped halfway and mewed again as Sephiroth heard the pitter-patter of footsteps.  He blinked as Anne ran downstairs, eyes wide in a panic then stopping at the foot of the stairs.

“You can’t be serious!” she cried out “You really can’t be serious that I should…?”

“Should what, Anne?” Sephiroth cocked his head to the side.

Anne breathed in and out in a bit of a panic, swallowing and gasping for air as she pointed upstairs.

“That…that…I can’t wear it,” she whimpered.

“Your wedding dress?” Sephiroth dished the waffles out onto plates.

“I’m not marrying you!” she raised her voice again “You’re insane, bloody insane!  I won’t!  You’ll have to kill me before…”

“Anne.”

His princess flinched as he left the kitchen counter and strode over towards her.  She pressed her back to the wall behind her as he loomed over her.

“Don’t say such negative things,” he said.

“Don’t make me have to…” Anne whimpered and Sephiroth gripped her shoulder.

“I expect you to get dressed by noon,” he said “Be a good girl, Anne.  It’s a special day today, don’t ruin it.”

“It’s…it’s humiliating,” Anne complained and winced at Sephiroth’s dry laugh.

“It’s humiliating to get married?” he raised an eyebrow.

“How can we get married, you would need a vicar, contract, all those kinds of things…” Anne argued as she turned away from him.

“The world doesn’t need to know about our love,” Sephiroth said and Anne scowled at the word ‘love’ “We don’t need any legal documents or anything to get married.”

“But…but then we won’t actually be married, what do you want out of this?” Anne glared up at him “Or is this some sick fetish of yours?”

“Don’t taint it,” Sephiroth let out a warning snarl and Anne gripped his wrist when he tightened his grip on her “Anne, be happy.  Our wedding day is today.”

“Don’t expect me to put on the blushing bride act!” Anne growled at him.

She gasped as she felt Sephiroth’s nails dig through the nightgown and into her skin.

“Anne, I am at my limit with your attitude,” Sephiroth said slowly and Anne began shaking with fear “I expect you to be on your best behaviour today.  Now, I want you to eat your breakfast then get changed.  You will come down afterwards to open your birthday presents.”

Anne glared at the floor as Sephiroth lifted his hand off her.  He folded his arms and watched as she clench her fists, suppressing her anger.

“There is no need to act so childish, you’re eighteen now,” he continued speaking in that slow voice.

Tears streamed down Anne’s cheeks and she turned to go back upstairs.  Sephiroth snatched her by the arm and dragged her over to the table, shoving her into her seat.

“I’ve made waffles so be a good girl and eat them without doing anything stupid,” Sephiroth said as he grabbed the plate of waffles and slammed them down in front of her, nearly cracking the plate.

Anne looked pathetic, sniffing and glaring at her breakfast.  With shaky hands, she picked up her knife and fork and began eating slowly.  Sephiroth watched her as he slowly calmed down from his anger but when he noticed the way she was eating it irked him even more.

“Hurry up, do you think taking your time will avoid the inevitable?”

Anne stopped abruptly then placed her cutlery down.

“I’m sorry but that just ruined my appetite completely,” she said bitterly.

“Anne, stop treating it like you’re going to get executed,” Sephiroth sneered.

“That sounds more favourable.”

Anne flinched when Sephiroth rose to his feet and stormed to her side, snatching her wrist.

“Anne, is it really that horrible to be my wife?” he snarled.

“It’s horrible to have to be trapped here and to be used as a sex s-!”

“Do _not_ taint it!” Sephiroth bellowed as he sent a fist into the table, making it jolt and Anne jumped in fright.

Anne was reduced to pitiful whimpers at the act of violence and Sephiroth exhaled sharply through his nose.  He stroked his thumb over her wrist, closing his eyes to calm himself down.

“If you really don’t wish to eat, then get changed,” he said as he pulled her up to her feet.

Anne stumbled after him, struggling to get him to let go in futile.  Sephiroth dragged her upstairs, past the terrified Kizu and pushed her into her bedroom.  She stumbled onto the floor and glared up at him with tear-stained eyes.

“You might want to wash your face,” he said coldly “I expect you to be in that dress by the time I come back.  No excuses.”

He slammed the door shut and locked it, just to make sure she didn’t try to run and hide somewhere in their home.  He leaned against the door, sighing in frustration and covering his eyes.  Why did this have to be so hard? 

 

* * *

 

Anne stared at the veil and tiara in her hands in disgust.  She was seated on her bed with the damn dress on, accompanied with the damn accessories.  She placed the headdress down beside her and reached behind her.  She managed to grasp the zip at the back and pull it up fully.  She paused when she realised how pointless it was.  It would be off her later.

“Damn it,” she hissed as she clenched her gloved hands.

She covered her face with her hands and shook her head.  It was at times like this that she should count her blessings.  Anne scowled and lifted her head to glare up at the sea outside her window.

 _“You look so pretty, Anne,”_ Luka smiled warmly from the balcony.

 _“Hey, you’re eighteen today!”_ Tifa grinned next to him _“You’ll be able to get a driving license now!”_

 _“My little daughter is all grown up…”_ Mrs Lockhart wept softly.

 _“Happy Birthday, Anne!”_ Luna giggled.

Luka came into the bedroom and walked up to Anne.  He crouched down as his face turned from warm to cold.

 _“It’s such a pity that you’re spending it with him,”_ he spat and Anne retreated across the bed slightly _“Why did you leave me, Anne?”_

“I didn’t…” Anne whimpered “I didn’t, he took me by force!”

_“Pathetic.”_

Anne screamed as she grabbed the snow globe she had gotten for Christmas and hurled it at Luka.

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth hurriedly rushed to Anne’s room when he heard her scream.  Stupid girl, was she trying to harm herself again?  He adjusted his tuxedo before getting the key to her bedroom out.

“You don’t know what it’s like!”

Sephiroth froze with the key in the door as he heard Anne shout.  She was sobbing loudly as she threw something that impacted one of her walls.

“Do you think I got myself kidnapped on purpose, you idiot?!” she kept screaming “Do you think I want to be raped?!  Do you think I would willingly leave you?!  Stupid, stupid, stupid, Luka!”

Sephiroth snarled as he heard that name again and opened the door.  He watched as she threw her new teddy bear out of the window where it landed in the garden.

“How could you accuse me of such a thing?!” she shrieked at thin air “I would never do such a thing!  Stupid, Luna!”

Who…was she talking to exactly?

“Shut up, Tifa!”

Is this a form of taking out her anger?

“Shut up, shut up!”

Anne collapsed to her knees, covering her ears and shaking.

“Shut up!  Shut up!”

Was she hallucinating?

“Stop it!  Stop it, just shut up!”

Anne bent over, gritting her teeth and snarling under her breath.

“Luka…Luka…” she sobbed.

Sephiroth slowly approached Anne and quickly wrapped her in a tight embrace, trapping her arms by her sides.  She thrashed about as he rocked her soothingly, kissing the side of her head.

“It’s alright, Anne,” he whispered softly as she struggled against his grip “I’m here.  There’s no-one else but us here.  Don’t listen to them, they don’t matter.  No-one matters, nothing matters.  Only us.  There’s only us, Anne.”

Anne slowly calmed down, breathing deeply and Sephiroth brought her back into his lap, hugging her tightly.

“My poor, poor princess,” he whispered “You look so pale.  You feel so cold.  There is no need to be so afraid.  My dear Anne, you’re shivering.  You must be so scared and confused.  But it’s alright, they’re gone now.  I’m here, you only need to listen to me.  I can make everything better.”

Anne fell limp in his arms, like a doll.  Her eyes had grown dull as she stared ahead blankly.  Sephiroth cradled her to his chest and kissed her cheek.  She didn’t even flinch like she normally did, just staring ahead blankly.  Sephiroth liked her change of behaviour, becoming all tame and obedient but what disturbed him was the dull look she possessed.  As if it had been painted on.  Sephiroth led her to her vanity where he brushed her hair and put her make-up on.  He took her tiara and veil from her bed, smiling to himself.

“My princess,” he whispered before placing it on her head “you look perfect.”

He smiled at her reflection and she simply stared back.  Sephiroth took her downstairs, helping her down with the dress and led her to the sofa.

“Do you like it?” he asked as he went over to the pile of presents “I thought it would suit you perfectly.”

“…Heavy.”

Sephiroth smiled as he picked the top present up and sat down next to her, pressing it to her hands.  Anne stared at it for a while before Sephiroth prompted her to open it.  He watched her eagerly as she tore through the wrapping paper and opened the box to see the choker he got her.  It was a simple black satin ribbon with a small diamond at the front of it.  Anne parted her lips slowly.

“…Pretty.”

“Here, let me put it on,” Sephiroth took the choker and scooted forward to put it on Anne.

Anne didn’t move as he did so and fingered the diamond thoughtfully.

“It looks beautiful on you,” he smiled.

“…”

She remained silent for the rest of the present unwrapping, commenting with only one words whenever she saw what he got her.  She did flinch slightly when she opened the last present to see a set of gold rings.  Sephiroth sat next to her and took the smaller ring.

“I had to have this one tailored for you,” he smiled as he picked up her left hand.

Anne watched sullenly as he put the ring onto her ring finger with her engagement ring.  He smiled expectantly and she lowered her head, picking up the bigger ring.  Sephiroth smiled widely as she hesitantly lifted the ring to his left ring finger to put it on.  He suddenly pulled her forward and kissed her happily once it was on.  When he pulled away, Kizu mewed for attention.  He pulled Anne onto his lap to leave room for the kitten to come up.  Kizu jumped up into Anne’s lap and purred expectantly.  Anne stared at him blankly as Sephiroth kissed her head softly.

“Let’s watch The Lost Castle,” Sephiroth said as he flicked the TV on “You haven’t watched that in a long time, have you?”

Anne didn’t respond as Sephiroth reclined them on the sofa and they watched the award-winning fantasy movie.  Sephiroth got up early during the last forty-five minutes in order to cook some steak for their lunch.  Their lunch together was uneventful.  Sephiroth urged Anne to try some wine but after she did, she expressed her distaste.  Sephiroth simply smiled, she’d get used to it in the future.  Afterwards, Sephiroth put some classical music on so they could dance.

“I…can’t waltz…” Anne said as Sephiroth took her by the waist and hand.

“I’ll teach you,” Sephiroth smiled as he brought her close “Just follow my feet.”

For the first dance, Anne’s eyes were solely focused on the floor, following his feet and hastily withdrawing her own when she thought she did a wrong step.  It was simply adorable.

“Anne, look up at me,” Sephiroth instructed during the second dance.

“But I…”

“It’s just the same pattern, try without looking.”

Anne hesitated before lifting her head to look up at him.  Sephiroth smiled wider.  This was almost perfect.  Sephiroth realised that despite Anne physically being here with him, she wasn’t fully conscious nor focusing on him.  Her eyes were glazed over, just like the times he would catch her daydreaming when she had been stuck on a question in their History lessons together.  Sephiroth frowned at that.  Was she trying to escape into her own fantasy world again?  His lips turned upward into a sneer.  He kicked out one of her feet, making it look like she’d taken a wrong step.  Anne gasped as she slipped and fell onto him.  Sephiroth clutched onto her as he took a fall and landed on the floor.  Anne gripped him, gasping in surprise as she looked around in confusion.

“Careful, Anne,” he said as he straightened her veil and tiara “Don’t worry, it does take practice.  You did have trouble going through dance routines at those school plays after all.”

Anne stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes.  He grinned.

“You were so cute as Prince Locke,” he commented “It’s such a pity people only really pay attention to the dame in pantomimes rather than the principal characters.  Speaking of which…”

His grin fell when he remembered exactly who the dame had been.

“I shouldn’t have brought that up,” he shook his head “But I was impressed with the way you danced with Sylvia who played Celes.  She is a talented actress even at her young age.  She was the only person who was shorter than you, wasn’t she?  That’s how she got the part.”

Anne’s eyes grew dull again as she looked away.  She seemed surprised that he had seen her in the school plays but she had soon realised that she shouldn’t be surprised.  He had been at the school and obviously was obliged to attend to watch.  Sephiroth cupped her cheek and smiled.

“You would have been much better of as the princess but you didn’t go for that role, did you?  You should have, you would have looked wonderful in that dress.”

“Don’t…” Anne murmured as she pushed Sephiroth’s hand away “…Don’t like to be feminine.”

“Anne, it’s alright to be a girl,” Sephiroth chuckled “You look beautiful when you are in dresses.”

Sephiroth frowned as Anne glared into space.

“You really don’t like to be a girl?” he said.

“Prince Locke…is a very admirable character…”

Sephiroth sat up and twirled a lock of Anne’s hair thoughtfully.

“Celes…was overreacting to attempt suicide…” Anne continued speaking softly “Locke wouldn’t have given up on life so easily.”

“You don’t like Celes?”

“She’s a very weak character who has an annoying habit of getting into trouble,” Anne snarled “Like me…”

Sephiroth sighed as he got up, bring Anne up with him.

“Don’t think like that,” he smiled “Everyone has their faults.”

Anne glared at the floor and Sephiroth scooped her up into his arms.  Her eyes widened when she realised he was carrying her over to the staircase and thrashed about.

“No, where are you taking me?!” she demanded as Sephiroth gripped her legs and torso tighter.

“Our bedroom,” Sephiroth replied and grunted when she shoved her hands into his face.

“No!  I don’t want…I don’t want to!” she cried and yelped as Sephiroth snatched her hand with his teeth, biting gently.

She stared at him fearfully as he carried her upstairs to his bedroom.  Sephiroth let her hand go as he closed the door firmly.

“Anne, it’s going to be alright,” he soothed as she began quivering violently in his grip “I’ll be careful not to hurt you.”

“No, no, no!” Anne pushed against him harder and squirmed as he kissed her passionately.

“Anne, it’ll be alright, it’ll feel good, I promise,” Sephiroth soothed as he carried her over to his bed and laid her out.

“No!”

Anne grunted as Sephiroth slammed her wrists firmly above her and trailed a hand up the skirt of the dress.  She kicked her legs about as he stroked the inside of her thighs gently before reaching his destination.

“Don’t touch me there!”

Sephiroth went on top of her and moved the hand that held her wrists down to cup the back of her head.  He bent down and kissed her, continuing his ministrations.  Her hands grabbed his shoulders but she couldn’t push him off.  He was far too strong for her.  He moved his hand down to unzip her dress and pulled away from her lips, panting heavily.

“Please, stop it!” Anne begged as she strained to close her legs, which proved to be difficult with him in between them.

“Anne…you’re so beautiful,” Sephiroth breathed as he gazed down at her flushed face.

“I won’t fight against you anymore, I’ll stop trying to self-harm, just please, please for the love of Odin, stop it!”

Sephiroth raised a hand, unbuttoning his shirt as he held her gaze.  Anne whimpered and squirmed as he continued stroking her.

“Stop it!”

“I love you…” Sephiroth murmured, transfixed by her wonderful, wonderful face.

“You lie!” Anne spat as she glared at him.

“So much…I love you so much…”

“Get off me!”

“My princess, my wife…”

“I hate you!”

Sephiroth froze as he now loomed over Anne topless.  He’d also managed to undress her down so her top half was completely exposed.  Her arms were around herself, covering her breasts as she glared up at him.

“I hate you,” she snarled again “Burn in Hell!”

Sephiroth looked down at her with an empty expression.  Anne gasped as he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to his face.

“No,” he whispered “My Anne would never say that.”

“Get off…” Anne whimpered as she used one hand to push against him.

“My Anne is a good girl,” he murmured “She’s…my precious princess.”

“Let go!”

“My Anne…my wife…I’ve been too lenient.”

Sephiroth smiled eerily and Anne froze momentarily in fear.

“Please,” he whispered “Be my obedient little girl again.  Like before.  All those years ago.”

“Paedophile…” Anne murmured.

“Don’t taint this, my darling,” Sephiroth withdrew his hand from under her skirt and pulled the rest of the dress off, casting it aside onto the floor “It is our wedding night after all.”

“Stop it!”

  **Stop here if you dislike sexual content**

Sephiroth lunged and kissed Anne harshly, silencing her screams.  He tightened his hold on her hair as he used his free hand to unbutton his trousers.  Anne clawed at his face and gasped as he suddenly shoved her down onto the bed.  Sephiroth let out a satisfied growl as he ground his erection against her clitoris.  Anne let out a sharp breath, her eyes going wide as her cheeks flushed.

“That feels nice, doesn’t it?” Sephiroth purred into her ear “Don’t deny it, my princess.”

“Disgusting,” Anne whimpered and covered her mouth, using her free hand to push against him in futility.

Sephiroth held Anne close to his chest with one arm as he lifted his head to gaze down at her.

“So beautiful,” he whispered “I must be the luckiest man alive to have such perfection.”

“No such thing as…”

“Ssh…” Sephiroth interrupted her as he gripped his cock and rubbed it against her.

“No, no, no…” Anne squirmed against him.

She let out a discomforted gasp when he slowly pushed in.

“Mmm…” Sephiroth licked his lips and snapped his hips forward eagerly.

Anne screamed in pain and began hitting his chest.

“That hurts!  Stop it!  Take it out!”

“Ssh, ssh…” Sephiroth kissed her head “Just sit still for a while, it’ll be OK.”

Anne sobbed as she looked away from him.  Sephiroth panted happily as she clamped down on his throbbing organ.

“Anne…” he whispered into her ear “You feel so good.  You’re so warm, so tight…”

“Shut up, I don’t want to hear it!” Anne cried as she covered her ears.

“So wet…”

Sephiroth managed to dodge her hand as Anne took another swipe at him.

“Bastard, pervert, paedophile,” she snarled “Rapist!”

She held her breath as Sephiroth slammed a hand down and grasped her neck.

“Bad girl,” he growled “Where’s my sweet, obedient Anne?  Give me my Anne.”

Anne stared up at him through tear-stained eyes.

“You poor man,” she whispered venomously “She never existed.”

Sephiroth crashed his lips into hers as he used both of his arms to hold her to his body.  She struggled and grunted as he began moving back and forth.  When he left her mouth, he trailed over to her ear, biting and nibbling before moving down to her neck.  He yanked off the choker with his teeth before sinking them into her skin.  Anne let out another pained cry as she tried to push him away.  She then let out another cry and Sephiroth paused, looking up at her.

“That felt wonderful, didn’t it?” he whispered to her as he began driving his hips forward more vigorously “Look at me.”

Anne covered her face in shame and disgust.  Sephiroth growled as he had to withdraw his arms around her body and snatch her wrists, pulling them away to see her face.  Her teeth had sunk into her bottom lip, drawing blood.  Her eyes were squeezed shut as she kept her face away from his.

“Anne, look at me,” Sephiroth demanded “Let me see your eyes, your beautiful, beautiful eyes.”

“No!” Anne cried and let out another pleasured scream.

Sephiroth shuddered at that delightful sound and grabbed her chin with one hand to direct it towards him.

“Anne, open your eyes,” he demanded again “Those wonderful eyes.”

“No…” Anne gritted out and bit her lip again when he hit the G-spot again.

“Anne!”

Anne snarled and opened her eyes to glare at him.

“I h-!”

Sephiroth slammed his lips into her before she could say those spiteful words again.  He clutched her close to him, driving forward eagerly, more, more, more… 

“Aaaaaahhhhh!”

Sephiroth groaned happily at that orgasmic scream, thrusting deep into her as she clenched around him tightly.  He grabbed her hips, driving them into his own and tilted them so the penetration was perfectly vertical.  He let out his own orgasmic gasp, closing his eyes blissfully as he shot his seed into her.  His hair fell down to touch Anne’s shoulders and he leaned his head down, pressing his forehead against hers.

“I love you so much,” he whispered as Anne choked softly with tears running down the sides of her face “my wife.”

Anne whimpered softly as she took a deep breath in then passed out.  Sephiroth carefully pulled the softening organ out of her and smiled happily as her virginal blood seeped out of her with his juices.  He carefully laid her out on the mattress, making sure her body would take in as much of his seed as possible.  He pulled the covers over them and brought Anne’s body to him, kissing her forehead.

“I love you, Anne Dux,” he smiled happily.

He closed his eyes and clutched her close to him, like a little child clutching onto its favourite toy.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explicit scene at the end

Sephiroth woke up blearily, the smell of sweat and sex still lingering faintly in the bedroom.  He blinked a few times before smiling darkly at the girl in his arms.  He pulled away to take a good look at her.  He ran a hand through her tussled hair, running it down her back and admiring the way her back was curled as she slept.  He felt the acne, he was tempted to pinch some of the belly fat she had, all these imperfections that she carried…it made everything perfect.  The realism, this was no fantasy, it was real.  Sephiroth sighed dreamily as he continued admiring her face, running a shy finger over the places where her face flaked with dry skin.  She forgot to put moisturizer on yesterday but it would be alright.  Sephiroth will remind her today.

“My wife,” he whispered happily.

His hands ran down her arms next, curiously feeling the small hairs on her arms before bring the left hand up to the light.  The gold band and diamonds glinted in the morning light that filtered through the curtains and Sephiroth smiled wider.  He let the arm drop and snuggled Anne, pressing her close to his chest.  Perfect, absolutely perfect.  Sephiroth ran another hand through her hair and paused when she stirred.  She yawned tiredly as her eyes fluttered open.  She groaned and wriggled slightly before freezing altogether.  She snapped her head up and let out a frightened whine.

“Ssh,” Sephiroth soothed as he grabbed her arm when she moved away from him “It’s alright, it’s alright…”

“Ah…ah…” Anne moved her mouth to try to form words as she looked around helplessly “Ahhh…”

“Anne, don’t worry, it’s alright,” Sephiroth grabbed her face to bring it to his “There’s no-one here, there’s only us.  Don’t be afraid, it’s normal to feel a little discomfort afterwards.  But you’ll get used to it, it’s alright.”

Anne squirmed as he brought her forward and kissed her on the lips.  He pulled away and smiled.

“I’ll run us a bath,” he said as he pulled away.

 

* * *

 

Anne watched as her captor went through a door, probably having an attached bathroom to his room too.  She bit her lip hard and held her head.  Filthy, disgusting, absolutely vile, she felt awful and sullied.  It felt wrong, so wrong, oh Anne really wanted to die.  Or just wake up, this had to be a horrible nightmare, it just had to be…

_“You skank, how could you just let him take you like that?”_

“I didn’t want him to,” Anne whimpered as Luka appeared behind her, looking disgusted.

 _“You wanted it, you bitch,”_ Luna appeared next with an unattractive sneer on her face.

“I didn’t…I didn’t…”

 _“You’re a disgusting little slut!”_ Tifa accused.

“No!  I’m not!”

_“Whore!  Whore!  Whore!”_

“Shut up!  Shut up!” Anne screamed as she plugged her ears as the voices grew and grew, laughing and mocking her.

She then laughed nervously.

“You…you don’t know what it’s like,” she whispered “You wouldn’t…know…”

She tensed when Cloud appeared in front of her and leaned in.

 _“You dirty slag,”_ he whispered.

“Shut up,” Anne whispered in between her nervous giggles “You wouldn’t know…you can’t possibly know…”

“Anne, is everything OK?” Sephiroth came out of nowhere and reached out for her.

“No, don’t touch me!” Anne screamed as she jumped off the bed and ran towards the door.

“Anne!”

“Get away, get away, leave me alone!” Anne cried as the laughter grew when she ran out.

She dashed into her bedroom and slammed the door.  The voices grew louder and louder, calling her names, mocking her situation and laughing, just laughing at her.  And she laughed with them.

 

* * *

 

This was terribly beyond what Sephiroth had expected.  Sephiroth put his Materia bracer on with the Sleep Materia equipped.  He wandered out of his room in his dressing gown and watched as Anne fell to her knees, laughing then shouting at the space in front of her.  He had never expected her to develop schizophrenia or to suffer so severely.  He should have noticed the signs, he mentally cursed himself for that.  How could he had not known?  His poor Anne, how long had she been suffering like this?  He grimaced as he slowly and carefully approached her room.

“I hate you, Cloud,” Anne was snarling now “You’re pathetic, a wimp, you try being in my position, I hate you so much, you…”

“Sleep.”

Anne gasped as she turned and saw the glow of the Sleep Materia.  She collapsed into his arms and he clutched her tightly, burying his nose into her hair.  What could he do?  He didn’t want to take her to a doctor, they would recognize her and take her away from him.  It wouldn’t do to just give her any medicine, there were several kinds to treat schizophrenia.  But maybe he wouldn’t have to look for much if he focused on the kinds that would help treat her severe condition.  Sephiroth picked Anne up and tucked her head into his chest.

“It’ll be alright, Anne,” he whispered “Everything is going to be alright.”

He brushed the hair out of her face before carrying her back to his bedroom so he could bathe with her.

 

* * *

 

Mary Lockhart stared outside to the street whilst cleaning the same plate.  It was just to keep her mind off things, to stop it from wandering, to keep it busy…

_“Hey, I’m eighteen today!”_

Mary screeched and dropped the plate in surprise.  It shattered on the tile floor and Mary turned on her heel, looking for the speaker warily.  She took a deep breath before glancing down at the mess.  She sighed but didn’t mind as she went to get her dustpan and brush.  Need to keep busy, being busy was good, being busy is healthy…

 _“Careful you don’t cut yourself,”_ it came again _“Here let me help.”_

Mary paused as she saw a hand reach out and jerked her head up.  Her breath stilled as she saw her youngest daughter in front of her with that warm smile of hers.

“Anne?” she whispered and reached out.

But her hand met air and Mary felt confused.  She then jumped to her feet with a startled gasp.  When was the last time she took her medicine?  Mary covered her mouth.  She didn’t even remember!  All this distraught over Anne must have made her forget completely!  She ran upstairs to the bathroom and opened the cupboard, her shaking hands pushing bottles and containers to find her medicine.  She took it out and froze.  It was empty.

 _“It’s all your fault, you know,”_ Anne said darkly as Mary looked into the reflection to see her by the door _“You told me to not come back.”_

“No, no, I didn’t mean it…” Mary whispered.

 _“Luka isn’t that bad, is he?”_ Anne continued speaking as she walked forward _“You only ever judged him by what Tifa said and my Autism.  You never listened to what I had to say.”_

“Oh Anne, Anne, please, I’m sorry…” Mary’s voice cracked.

 _“Sorry isn’t enough,”_ Anne snarled _“For all you could know, I could be nothing but a dead body in a field!”_

“No…no…” Mary sobbed and closed her eyes.

“Mother?”

Mary opened her eyes to see Tifa standing in Anne’s place instead.  She had bags under her eyes from her lack of sleep and it looked like spending the night at Cloud’s didn’t do much good.  Mary took in a deep breath and looked at the floor.

“C-Call Dr Hewley,” she whispered “Ask him t-to book an appointment with me…”

Tifa looked worried but nodded, going downstairs to phone their doctor.  Mary remained on the floor, rocking herself back and forth shakily.

 

* * *

 

Anne woke up in warm water, her back pressed up against a chest.  She looked up blearily, still partially under the effects of the Sleep Materia.  She barely saw Sephiroth’s smiling face above her and didn’t react to his gentle kiss upon her lips.  His hands roamed her front before trailing down south.  Her reaction was slow as she took one of his wrists.

“No…” she whispered and squirmed helplessly as Sephiroth’s free hand found its destination.

“Ssh…ssh…” he hushed her like a little child.

Anne whimpered and struggled feebly as he took his hand away from her grip and cupped her cheek.  He kissed her again, probably meaning for it to be sweet but to Anne, it felt bitter.  She wriggled in his grasp, whining softly as his fingers worked their way into her.  They explored her, rubbing against her and stroking her gently.

“You’re so soft and warm in there,” he whispered into her ear “It feels so nice…”

“Stop it…” Anne whispered as she struggled in vain.

“You’re so perfect, my beautiful princess,” he continued whispering and licked his lips.

“No, stop…” Anne moaned as he slowly thrust his digits in.

Sephiroth licked his lips hungrily before pulling his fingers out and lifting Anne up.  He carried her out of the bathtub and sat down on the bathmat, back against the side of the bath with Anne sat up in his lap.  She whimpered as she saw his erect cock before her and shook her head.

“No, not again, please,” she whispered and covered her eyes.

“Anne, Anne, it’s alright,” Sephiroth soothed as he rubbed her arms “I’ll be gentler than last night, I promise.”

“No, no, I just don’t…I don’t want it in me…please…”

She flinched when Sephiroth took her hand and lowered it down to his cock.  She whimpered when he had her fingers brush against the hardened organ and he let out a content sigh.

“Here, just feel it,” he whispered “It’s not going to hurt you, trust me.”

He enclosed her tiny fingers around it and she flinched at how it throbbed under her touch.  Beneath her eyelids, Anne hid her curiosity.  It was natural that it was there, she was so unused to the male body.  It disgusted her at the same time though, her natural instincts urging her to explore.  Sephiroth guided her hand up and down, making her think about how surprisingly warm it felt and how soft.  It sounded mad to know that this cruel and cold man with the short and explosive temper could have such a tender part to him.  Anne jumped when Sephiroth kissed her lips then gripped her hips.  She squeaked as he lifted them slightly and rubbed himself against her.

“No, no, no, no, no…” she begged and was promptly silenced by another kiss

“Anne, open your eyes,” Sephiroth whispered.

“No…”

“Let me see your beautiful eyes, my love,” he said again huskily “Those gorgeous eyes that only I deserve.”

“No!” Anne turned her face away.

His hand grabbed her by the chin and turned her face back.

“Anne, my princess, my sweet, your eyes,” he growled softly “I want to see your magnificent eyes.”

Anne shook as she slowly opened her eyes.  She saw Sephiroth’s own green eyes, dark with lust and his lips dry with the need to ravish her.

“Good girl,” he praised as he lowered his hand back down to her hip “My precious Anne.”

Anne’s voice hitched in her throat as Sephiroth eased himself into her and squeezed her eyes shut again.  Her hands flew to her mouth so she could clamp her jaws down around them, muffling any kind of sound she might make.  One quickly gripped Sephiroth’s shoulder for balance as he began to roll their hips together for the desperate need and want for friction.  Anne felt vile as her body reacted naturally, the nerves tingling with undeniable desire.  It was horrible, she hated Sephiroth so much.  She hated him for making her feel like this, for kidnapping her, for scaring her, she hated him so much.  She let out a startled cry when Sephiroth jerked her hand out of her mouth and kissed her happily.

“You’re mine,” he said against her lips “Mine, mine, mine, no-one else’s.”

“Stop that,” Anne whimpered.

“I’m going to make you forget about any other man or boy you have ever known,” Sephiroth promised “All you need is me.  I’m you salvation.”

Salvation to what exactly?  More like her damnation!  Anne wanted to disappear.  Just fade away into the air or melt into water so he could never find and catch her.  She wanted to go back home, just go back home and continue with life as it had been all those months ago.  She wanted to go back and be with Luka, be with Tifa and all her other friends and family and not be judged because of what happened to her.  Anne suddenly came to her senses and began hitting Sephiroth’s shoulders.

“Stop!” she cried.

“But it feels so good,” Sephiroth groaned in her ear “Don’t deny it, my beautiful princess.  You don’t want me to stop.”

“Yes, ah!”

Anne arched her back in surprise and Sephiroth moaned.

“I want you to stop!” she sobbed but Sephiroth didn’t relent.

Anne winced when he dug his fingers into her hips and began thrusting up into her faster.

“You look so perfect like this,” he murmured as he brought a hand to her back and pushed her chest towards his face “I think this position is best.”

“No, no…”

Anne gasped as he snatched one of her nipples with his lips and grabbed his head.

“No, stop that…”

Sephiroth suckled happily on her breast, a hand sliding down to her ass to rub a finger in between her cheeks.

“Stop, please, no…”

Anne yelped as he thrust his finger into her puckered hole and hit his shoulders harder.

“Stop!  R-”

Sephiroth’s lips slammed into hers and Anne’s head spun as she was suddenly lying on the bathmat with him on top.

“Say you love me,” he growled.

“Wh-What?” Anne whimpered between her pants.

“Say you love me!” Sephiroth demanded with a renewed anger in his voice “Open your eyes and profess your love to me!”

Anne shook her head and gasped as Sephiroth’s hand slammed down next to her face.

“Anne!” he yelled.

Anne’s eyes fluttered open to meet his livid gaze.  She whimpered as she tried to say the words but her throat was jammed.

“Say it, Anne,” he growled again “Profess your love to me.  Say that you love me and only me!”

Anne opened her mouth slowly.

“I…I…l-l-love…you…” she squeaked out.

Sephiroth let out a shuddering groan as he suddenly slammed into her one final time, grunting and shifting the penetration so it was perfectly vertical.  Anne felt sick as she felt something hot and sticky fill her and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, swallowing shakily.  Sephiroth was breathing heavily, his breath falling onto her face as he wiped her tears away from her eyes.

“I love you too,” he whispered “I love you so much.”

Making sure he stayed inside her, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

“My Anne, my precious princess,” he whispered as he ran his fingers through her hair “My beautiful, beautiful…Anne…”

“Don’t…” Anne said weakly and flinched as he hugged her tighter.

“Anne, Anne…”

He kept breathing her name into her ear as he stroked her, embracing her tightly as if she’d be able to run away from him if he let go.  He pulled away and cupped her cheeks.

“Open your eyes…” he demanded softly.

“Please don’t make me…”

“Please, Anne,” Sephiroth begged “Your eyes, let me see those lovely eyes.”

Anne slowly opened her eyes and stared at his enchanted face.  He stared deeply into her eyes, licking his lips before kissing her gently.  Anne closed her eyes tightly again, wishing to never open them ever again so long as she was with them.


	24. Chapter 24

Sephiroth watched as Anne curled up on the sofa, shaking visibly in her dressing gown.  He glanced down at the plate of spaghetti bolognaise that he had made for her breakfast.  It was her favourite dish, he’d though it might cheer her up a bit.  He glanced back at her, grimacing when she refused to acknowledge Kizu trying to get her attention.  He walked over and she froze when he offered her the plate.

“Here you go,” he smiled as she slowly lowered her knees so he could place it on her lap.

He handed her the utensils and she began eating with shaking hands.  He slowly reached over and placed a hand on her back.  She froze briefly when he did but continued eating.  He ran circles with his thumb on her back as he watched her.

“It’s going to be alright, Anne,” he said softly and she didn’t lift her head to look at him “I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner, but I’ll help you get better.  I promise, we can get through this.”

Anne looked up at him and he saw the glint of confusion in her eyes briefly.  He smiled and kissed her head.  Anne looked back at her breakfast and continued eating.

 

* * *

 

He’ll help her get better?  What did he mean by that?  He was sorry he didn’t see it sooner?  See what?  What was he talking about?  Was he implying that she was ill?  Anne just focused on eating.  Keep her jaw busy, keep herself busy, busy was good, busy was healthy.  Anne thought about other things.  Chocobos, Cactaurs, Moogles, think of happy and cute thoughts.  Block everything out that’s horrible.  There is no-one and nothing apart from her, Chocobos, Cactaurs and Moogles.  Anne focused on the way her jaw moved up and down, eating, chewing, digesting…until it stopped.  Anne looked down at the empty plate, covered in the bolognaise sauce and watched as a hand came and took it away.  Someone spoke but she didn’t hear.  Something took her wrist and her legs started walking.  She felt her feet against soft carpet and stopped when hands suddenly gripped her shoulders and shook her.

“Come on, Anne!” came a shout “Snap out of it, you know you can’t block me out forever!”

Don’t pay attention, don’t pay attention, just imagine that story with the elf princess, she’s fighting for her own kingdom, Anne just needs to write the final scene where she’s riding out to battle…

“Anne!”

No, no, no, don’t listen, don’t listen, pretend that no-one’s there, they can’t get you if you pay attention to them, like in the Missing Mist, don’t pay attention…  Anne’s eyes widened when lips pressed forcefully against hers.  She tensed and watched as Sephiroth pulled away and cupped her cheeks.

“It’s going to be alright,” he whispered “I’ll go out and find the medicine for you, you’ll be better soon enough…”

“I’m…not sick…” Anne murmured.

“Anne, you may not realise it, but you do need it,” Sephiroth soothed.

Was he going to force her to take drugs?  Was this what this ‘medicine’ was for?

“I don’t need it…” Anne protested as she tried to get out of his grip.

“Yes, Anne, you do,” Sephiroth insisted “Please, just to make it better.  I don’t wish to see you like this, Anne.  It hurts.”

“There’s…nothing wrong with me…!” Anne gripped his wrists to try and get him off her.

“No, of course not,” Sephiroth soothed as he shifted his grip back to her shoulders “But it scares you doesn’t it?  All those hallucinations, those voices, I’ll help make them all go away.”

“Shut up, shut up, there’s nothing wrong with me!” Anne screamed and lashed out at him.

She continued screaming as he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder.  She hit his back, kicked his chest and squirmed in his grip.  She went silent all of a sudden when she landed on a bed and froze, curling up.

“No, please, I’m sorry,” she whispered and rocked herself “Not again, please…”

“Anne, you just need some sleep,” Sephiroth whispered as he eased her dressing gown off and tucked her into the bed.

“No, I don’t need sleep, I need to get out of here!”

Sephiroth grunted as he kept her pinned to the bed as she writhed and tried to get him to let go.

“Anne, Anne, please don’t make me force you,” he begged.

“Let me go!  I said let me go!”

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth ducked his head and lifted his hand.

“It’s for your own good,” he whispered as it began to glow green “Sleep.”

Anne froze, staring at the hand before falling lax and sleeping.  Sephiroth retracted his hand and turned away from her with a shaky sigh.  The tears finally came.  It just _hurt_ so much!  He knew he should take her to see a doctor but there was no-one he could trust that would go and tell the police and take his precious Anne away!  He needed her, he loved her and he was going to help her get better by himself.  Shaking his head, he stormed out of the bedroom to go downstairs and leave for the nearest pharmacy.

 

* * *

 

Anne was furiously glaring at the bottle in his hand when he returned and saw she had woken up.  She was still drowsy under the effects of the Sleep Materia, hence why she hadn’t gotten up yet.  Sephiroth walked to her side of the bed and sat down, reaching out to stroke her hair.

“It’s going to help.”

Anne still didn’t show any signs of believing him as he popped the cap open and poured out a measured dose into the spoon.

“Come on,” he said as he offered it to her “For your own sake.  I promise, it’ll help.”

Anne leaned away and Sephiroth watched her eyes flicker in thought.  He couldn’t help but smile softly.  She was such a smart girl, thinking about any consequences before acting.  She gritted her teeth into a growl before slowly opening her mouth and taking the dose.  She swallowed, scowled and spluttered, freezing when Sephiroth offered her a packet of pocky.  She glanced at him in distain.

“Anne, don’t be so stubborn,” he scolded “It’ll take the taste away.  Come on.”

Anne took the packet but made no move in opening it.  Sephiroth let out an impatient sigh and she hastily ripped the top off, grabbing a stick and shoving it into her mouth.  She turned away from him only to look down when he took his shirt off and climbed onto the bed.  He lay next to her, head on her bosom, hugging her tightly.

“Why do you fight against me so?” he whispered with closed eyes to hide the new set of tears “I love you and I’d do anything for you.”

“Anything?” Anne whispered.

Sephiroth looked up at her sceptic face and nodded.

“I want to go back to Midgar and see my family and friends.”

Sephiroth’s grip around her tightened.

“You know I can’t do that,” he said.

“Tch.”

Sephiroth grimaced as she turned away from him and buried his face into her chest.


	25. Chapter 25

Sephiroth was more focused on the girl that lay limply across his chest than the TV show that they were watching together.  She was draped over him like a blanket, glassy eyes focused on the TV screen and Sephiroth smiled, running his fingers through her hair.  She let him do so and he enjoyed the way her cheeks went slightly red with the affectionate gesture.  She slowly edged herself up his chest, pressing her cheek against him.

“Mmm…” she mumbled and yawned sleepily.

Sephiroth chuckled as he brushed his fingertips across her face.  He knew she was drowsy because of the medicine, it was a side-effect but not entirely inconvenient.  Sephiroth enjoyed carrying Anne around as she lay as limp as a ragdoll.  It was simply adorable with the way she curled up and could only communicate with slurred, drunken speech and soft, incoherent moans.  Sephiroth laced his fingers through her hair at her scalp and scratched gently.  She smiled and nuzzled against his hand.

“Nngh…Luuukaaa…” she drawled, not noticing the way he tensed up and glared at her blissfully ignorant look.

Sephiroth gritted his teeth.  The fact that she still dares utter that name whilst not being herself made Sephiroth want to go back to Midgar to murder that boy.  It was his name that she should be murmuring.  Sephiroth brushed her hair back from her face and narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t worry, my princess,” he said “Soon you’ll forget him.”

Anne just yawned sleepily in response.  Sephiroth held her closer to him and pressed a kiss onto her forehead.

 

* * *

 

“Come back soon!”

“Sure, whatever,” Luka muttered as he left the bedroom, adjusting his sword in its handle before marching off to the cable car to leave the Golden Saucer.

He got a few flirtatious cat calls, to which he responded with a scowl as he boarded and sat down, leg carelessly crossed over the other.  He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled photo of when he and Anne visited the Museum of Natural History.  He stroked the edges of the photo thoughtfully and groaned as a searing pain shot across his head.

“Ugh…” he grumbled as he massaged his temples “Never drinking again, I swear.”

Seriously, what had he been thinking?  Spend one night at the Golden Saucer and he ended up drinking and then hooking up with some random girl who probably had herpes or worse.  Thank Shiva for condoms.  Shaking his head, Luka stuffed the photo back into his pocket and held his head in his hands.

“Sorry, Anne,” he whispered and buried his face, breathing in the leather of his gloves “I just…ugh…”

When he found her, would she understand?  He couldn’t keep it from her, she was just too…sweet to keep secrets from.  Running his fingers through his hair, Luka took in a sharp breath and sat up when the cable car stopped.  He got up and marched out, not even giving a second glance to the North Corel residents that lingered around.  He marched out of the camp moodily, his next destination being Gongaga. 

“Luka!”

Luka turned his head and froze up when he saw an old friend running up to him.

“Thalia, what are you doing here?” he asked as she grinned whilst arriving in front of him.

“I could ask you the same thing!” she giggled and poked him hard in the chest.

“I’m…just travelling the world for a year,” Luka shrugged carelessly.

“What about school?” Thalia asked with a frown.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Luka growled.

Thalia raised her hands with a raised eyebrow.

“Sheesh, what’s got you all stuck up?” she asked “I thought you didn’t believe in your little pilgrimage…”

“It’s family tradition, Thalia, this is for my parents’ sake,” Luka snarled.

Luka shoved the young woman aside before storming off.  Thalia glared at his back before turning and heading for Costa del Sol.  Luka only felt the remorse as he saw Gongaga on the horizon.  He sighed and shook his head. 

“Sorry,” he muttered before heading off towards the village.

 

* * *

 

“Tifa, I’m fine,” Cloud said as he cleaned up his room “Mom’s fine too, stop worrying.  She just needs rest.”

“Well you have been worrying about her here in Midgar,” Tifa said from her place on the phone “You keep on making it sound like she’ll drop dead soon.”

Cloud sighed and shrugged.

“What about your mom?  Is she feeling any better?”

“Well her medicine will take a while to work,” Tifa sighed “I still can’t believe she managed to hide from us that she is schizophrenic.”

“The last she wanted was for you to worry,” Cloud reassured her as he sat on his bed.

“But I’m worrying even more now!”

“Tifa, it’ll be alright as soon as you see the signs then you can ask your doctor to prescribe medicine to you.”

“No!  Not me!  Anne…”

Cloud stiffened at Anne’s name and looked down.

“Oh…”

“See?” Tifa was nearly going hysterical again “If she is out there, suffering from hallucinations and illusions, she’ll be so scared, Cloud, she’ll be so scared and alone!”

“Everything will be alright,” Cloud said calmly.

“No it won’t be!” Tifa cried “She’s been missing for four months!  There have been no leads and Officer Rude has called up to say that they’re thinking to close the case as a cold case!”

“They can’t do that!” Cloud exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

“I know!  But they say they have more important cases to look at and they don’t have enough men!  How can Anne, an autistic and possibly schizophrenic teenage girl who might have been kidnapped by her own father be less important than anything else?!”

“You don’t know that he took her…”

“He never made it to the prison, Cloud!” Tifa screamed down the phone “If he didn’t take her then who possibly did?!”

Cloud sighed and hung his head.

“I don’t know, Tifa,” he muttered “I just don’t know.”

They were silent for a while until Tifa decided to hang up, muttering a quiet goodbye.  Cloud hung up too after listening the dull tone for a few seconds.  He lay back on his bed and ran his fingers through his spiky hair.

 

* * *

 

“Anne,” Sephiroth breathed as he rolled his hips slowly against Anne’s “You feel so nice…”

Anne didn’t respond as he nibbled her ear and held her close to him, sighing happily.  Sephiroth sunk his teeth into her neck to leave a hickey before noticing the lack of life within the girl beneath him.  He raised his head and looked down at her.

“Anne, focus on me,” he said softly as he cupped her cheek “I know you’re tired from the medicine, that’s why we’re going slow tonight.”

Anne stared up at him as he kissed her lips and held her hips steady as he continued making love to her.  He kissed her harder when he didn’t get a response, raising a hand to grip her hair.  She let out a gasp and Sephiroth moved faster.

“You can’t escape me,” he whispered “You won’t find your dear Luka in your fantasy land.”

Anne stared up at him, tears dripping from her eyes.  She whimpered when he thrust a bit rougher.

“You can’t ignore me,” he whispered “You _won’t_ ignore me.  Not now.  Never when we’re making love, my princess.”

Anne whined and tried feebly clawing at him.

“St…op…” she tried speaking “Ah…ah!”

“Never,” Sephiroth whispered and kissed her nose “You will learn to enjoy me with you, my sweet.  It’s only a matter of time.”

“Shut…up…” Anne covered her ears and turned away from him.

Sephiroth groaned as he felt his climax coming.  He sunk his nails into her hips and moved faster in her, licking his lips as Anne let out more delightful moans.  She whined and Sephiroth grunted, lifting her hips so he could cum deep inside her.  Anne sobbed as she clamped down on him, looking up at him with one cracked eye.  Sephiroth sighed happily, smiling down at her as she dared look at the penetration.

“Why…?” she whispered and Sephiroth leaned down to kiss her lips.

“Think about it very carefully, my beautiful princess,” he murmured as he thrust gently a couple of times before pulling out.

Anne collapsed against the sheets as Sephiroth lay down beside her, cuddling her close to his chest.  She fell asleep quickly and Sephiroth smiled, running his fingers through her hair.

“My Anne,” he smiled and kissed her forehead.

He didn’t sleep much that night, just lay there watching her.


	26. Chapter 26

_“My name is Nightmare!”_

_“My name is Horror!”_

_“And together…”_

_“We’re Nightror!”_

_“Or Hormare, but you can choose according to your preference!”_

Anne plugged her ears when the laughing echoed in her head.

_“Hands have teeth you know.”_

_“Mm, I want to eat things with my hands.”_

_“Why’s that?”_

_“Because a knife and fork just won’t do!”_

Anne curled her knees up to her chest more and winced at the discomfort that radiated from her nether region.

_“Pianos have those little things called keys don’t they?”_

_“I like keys.”_

_“To stop nosebleeds, put keys down your back!”_

_“So cold and metal…”_

_“Tasty!”_

“Nngh…”

Anne’s eyes snapped open when Sephiroth’s tired groan cut through the voices and his grip around her waist tightened.  He turned onto his side, disorientated and still half asleep, bringing his other arm around her trembling form.  He nosed her hair as he draped a leg around her knees, pushing them down so she was lying straight.  He curled that leg around them and mumbled something in her ear.

“Cynthia…”

Anne blinked.

_“Cynthia is a pretty name.”_

_“Cynthia is an elegant name.”_

_“I want a white Chocobo and name it Cynthia.”_

_“If that Chocobo happens to be a male, we’ll have to cut his thingy off.”_

“Cynthia…isn’t my name…” Anne mumbled.

* * *

 

Tifa watched as her mother turned her head abruptly and stood.

“Did you hear that?” she whispered fearfully to which her daughter shook her head “No…no…”

She sat back down on the armchair, picking up her knitting again.  Tifa grimaced as she circled her finger on the arm of her chair gloomily.  Dr Hewley explained everything about schizophrenia to her when they went to get medicine for her mother.  About how her mother’s schizophrenia comes in episodes and that the drugs merely extend the periods in between these episodes and reduce the symptoms when those episodes come.  About how there’s an unknown cause to how schizophrenia is triggered.  How it affected one percent of Midgar.  And about the studies done and the results have indicated how genes can determine where the disease is a genetically predisposition.  And if that was true, Tifa was at risk to developing this horrible illness.  Or even worse, Anne could be out there, alive and in distress and so vulnerable…

“He took her…” Mary suddenly snarled “That boy, he took away my baby girl!”

“Luka has a solid alibi and loved her too much to do that to her,” Tifa said tiredly.

“But where is he now?!  Why isn’t he looking for her?!”

“He’s out there somewhere finding a lead,” Tifa lied through her teeth as she herself was unsure to what the younger man was up to.

 

* * *

 

Anne found herself biting down on Sephiroth’s fingers as he pressed her to the shower wall, a hand gripping her hips steady as he thrust into her erratically.

“Your teeth are so sharp and healthy,” he panted “My sweet little Anne…”

Anne’s eyes cracked open so she could see the opaque reflection of him through the pink tiles and sarcastically remark in her head of when he called her a different name earlier.  She bit down harder as he thrust deeper, her legs quivering as it began to get more and more painful.  At first it always began with a sharp pain then dulled to a more of a sore, a sore that would haunt her for hours until her captor decided that he wanted to rape her again.  Anne blinked a couple of times in surprise as she began tasting blood in her mouth.

“You little minx,” Sephiroth snarled and Anne let out a fearful whimper “Such strong teeth, mmm, Anne…yes…”

Anne nearly threw up as she felt the warm fluids entering her and Sephiroth wrapped his free arm around her, slowly lowering them down so she was seated on his cock.  He moaned and nuzzled her neck lovingly.  Anne felt his lips turn up into a smile against her skin.

“I love you so much,” he whispered heatedly into her ear “My Anne.”

Anne didn’t respond as usual.  They stayed like that for a while until Sephiroth finally pulled out, picked her up and carried her over to the mirror.

“You should take care of yourself more, Anne,” Sephiroth smiled as he ran a brush through Anne’s wet black mess “You’re so beautiful, it takes a lot of work to maintain such beauty…”

Anne just leaned forward slightly to run her finger around the mirror to distract herself from the discomfort down south.  Her body was getting used to accommodating such a feeling, however it still sickened her to the core.

_“Like a rotten apple.”_

_“Apple is the fruit of sin.”_

_“Lust is a sin.”_

_“Anne is sinful for lusting over her old teacher!”_

_“Anne has daddy issues!”_

_“It’s Anne’s fault that she got kidnapped and raped!”_

Anne mouthed for the voices to stop rather than cry out loud for them to shut up and cause a fuss.  She began tracing letters on the mirror, hoping that it would get rid of those voices.  Those awful, spiteful, painful, hurtful…

“Don’t you dare mention that name!” Sephiroth suddenly snarled as he snatched Anne’s wrist.

Anne gasped and looked up at him in terror.  Sephiroth looked livid, had she traced Luka’s name?  She trembled.

“I…I…”

_“Anne’s a bad girl!”_

_“Anne’s in trouble!”_

_“You shouldn’t be thinking about your little boyfriend when your husband is around!”_

_“Anne is an unfaithful wife!”_

Sephiroth’s hand squeezed tighter on her wrist.

“I will not have you utter that name ever again,” he said as Anne began crying in pain and fear.

“But…but…”

“No buts!”

Anne screamed as he raised his voice and sobbed.

“I’ll…I’ll try…” she whimpered.

“Try what?”

“N-Not to mention…Luka…”

Anne’s mind flew out of the window as Sephiroth slapped her sharply.  Shouldn’t she have stated which particular name she shouldn’t be mentioning?

“Don’t mention him either.”

Either?  Was there another name she wasn’t supposed to mention?  Anne blinked up at Sephiroth.

“Mom?”

“No.”

“Daddy?”

“No.”

“Tifa?”

“No.”

Anne stared up at Sephiroth helplessly as he clenched his fists.  She searched through his furious, green eyes until she uttered…

“Cy-Cynthia?”

Sephiroth’s inhale of air was sharp as he stumbled back, staring at her like she was the devil come to claim his soul.  Anne watched him run out of the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

_“You’re in trouble!”_

_“But don’t worry, Anne.”_

Luka’s image appeared in the mirror.

 _“I’ll protect you,”_ he smirked mockingly.

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth sat down on the sofa, his head in his hands as he regained his emotions.

“She can’t have known…” he whispered in a panic “No-one knows, no-one knows…”

He lifted his head towards the bookshelf and spied the black leather book warily.  Somewhere in there was a picture of him with his school girlfriend.  He had never touched it since the day of that horrible tragedy.

 

* * *

 

They were friends since the first day at their new school.  He, Genesis and Angeal met Cynthia Price for the first time.  They were always together, before, during and after the school day, every day.  The bliss of childhood ignorance shattered however when Cynthia and Genesis began going out when they were thirteen.  Things didn’t go well and in the end Genesis broke Cynthia’s heart for Sephiroth to pick up.

Cynthia grew up to be a beautiful young woman, Sephiroth soon found himself becoming enamoured by everything she did.  She was cheeky, devious and very intelligent.  They took History together and Cynthia told him for the first time that she aspired to be a teacher.  That was when they began going out.  They grew closer and closer, at least that was how Sephiroth felt.  Everything felt perfect and the years flew by until they were eighteen, deciding on a university to attend and that one night which broke Sephiroth’s perfect illusion shattered.

“Genesis,” she dared utter his name as they were lost in the passion that night.

Sephiroth felt used and disgusted.  It was all to get his friend jealous who was happily in another relationship.  She was still hung up on him.  Even after four long years in their relationship, she still wanted Genesis.  And it broke his heart.  A brutal stab into his chest.

“Cynthia, I love you more than you can imagine.”

They didn’t say much else since then.  On the day when they were heading to their new university campus, that was the very day everything went completely wrong.

“I’m sorry you fell in love.  But I know you’ll find someone who deserves you better.”

Sephiroth didn’t see it coming, even though he tried to stop her.  She drove them right into Genesis’s car who was on the other side of the road and everything went black.  Later, he woke up at the hospital with minor scrapes and burns.  Genesis had survived and so had his girlfriend.  When he woke, Cynthia was still in critical condition.  But overnight, she didn’t survive.  Never had Sephiroth cried so much into Genesis’s chest who gave him the bad news.  She was perfect, she was everything Sephiroth could have ever wanted from a girlfriend, from a wife.  Smart, beautiful, caring, they were going to be teachers together.  Everything was perfect, so perfect…

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth found himself looking at the yearbook, gazing at the picture which was labelled ‘Couple Most Likely to Get Married’.  He was young, his silver hair tied back into a ponytail and with his arm around Cynthia, her blood red eyes glinting in the light of the camera and her ebony hair framing her pale face.  He looked up at the ceiling. 

“I should make sure she’s alright,” he murmured and smiled “My precious Anne…”


	27. Chapter 27

Anne pulled up the blue skirt to the bikini in front of Sephiroth and looked up at him nervously.  He smiled as he caressed her cheek and kissed her forehead.

“You look adorable as always,” he praised with a smile.

_“Salt is good for you.”_

_“Not too much or you’ll explode!”_

_“Boom!”_

Anne ignored the little boys in the corridor fighting against one another as Sephiroth pulled away.

“Sit down, I’ll get the sun cream.”

Anne sat down as Sephiroth stepped away and the boy with ginger hair ran in, sticking his tongue out at her.

_“Hey, Anne, can we come to the beach with you two?”_

_“Just as long as you don’t do all that yucky adult stuff,”_ the boy with blue and purple hair came in next and sneered.

_“Anne, talk to us!”_

_“No good will ever come if you just ignore us!”_

_“You can feel us right here!”_

“Ow,” Anne winced as one of the boys slapped her on the knee.

“What’s that?” Sephiroth turned to her.

Anne pressed her lips tightly together as the boys covered their mouths with cheeky glints in their eyes.  Sephiroth frowned as he turned around fully with the sun scream tube in his hand.

“Anne, are you talking to someone?”

Anne shook her head.

“Anne, I know you can see people that I can’t see,” Sephiroth said as he moved towards her.

The boys ran out of the room when he arrived in front of her, staring down at her with a concerned frown.

“They appeared yesterday,” Anne began talking “At first, I thought you had made me pregnant and I had given birth to them because I didn’t know who they were but that’s ridiculous.”

Sephiroth crouched down before her, pouring some cream out to rub on her bare arms.

“You…couldn’t possibly want me pregnant, right?” Anne giggled nervously which caused him to stop “I mean…you…you…”

Sephiroth looked up at her with a soft smile.

“Anne, I do want to impregnate you,” he said and Anne’s nervous smile faded instantly.

“Wh-what?”

Sephiroth smiled wider as he kept applying the sun cream onto her skin.

“We’re going to be a happy family,” he said as Anne stared at him with a mortified look.

_“Happy, happy, happy!”_

_“I want some milk, mommy!”_

“No!” Anne screamed as she shoved Sephiroth away.

Sephiroth barely moved as he grabbed her wrist tightly.

“Don’t fight it, my princess,” he said as Anne whined in pain as he squeezed her wrist painfully “One day, you will thank me for all of this.”

Anne shook her head as she used her free hand to cover one of her ears.

“You have…no right…” she whimpered as the little boys’ laughs got louder.

“Anne, listen to me,” Sephiroth’s cold voice cut through the laughter “Listen to me closely.”

Anne looked down at her captor’s green eyes, shivering as he let go of her wrist and hugged his arms around her bare legs.  He pecked her knees lovingly then smiled up at her.

“You are lucky, my dear,” he said “If that little _boy_ had impregnated you, he would have left you, not wanting to take responsibility for his actions.  Your family would have kicked you out into the slums for bringing shame to them.  And you would have to cope with dealing with that little parasite by yourself.”

He pressed a hand to her slightly chubby belly and kissed her belly button.

“I will fully support you and our child,” he promised “And I do not wish to have just one child, I want more, so you’ll never have to be alone.”

“I don’t want to be pregnant full stop!” Anne raised her voice “I’m too young for this!”

“You say that because if I hadn’t have taken you, you would have been alone but as your husband, I will look after you.”

Anne shifted away but he hugged her legs closer to his chest.

“Anne, my princess, my wife, my beautiful angel…” he whispered.

“I wanted to be a bounty hunter,” Anne murmured, halting his whispers.

_“En garde!”_

Anne watched the boys run back in with cardboard swords and shields.

“I wanted to travel the world,” she continued speaking “I wanted to be by Luka’s side, even if it was just a teen romance.  And I would have looked to settle down at least after my twenty fifth birthday.”

She winced suddenly as Sephiroth dug his nails into her legs.

“Anne, you’re mine now,” he said forcefully and Anne retreated back into her shell “Throw away those fantasies and face reality.”

Anne glared at the floor as he stood and grabbed the bottle of medicine that was supposed to treat her for this schizophrenia that he told her about.

_“No, mommy, don’t take it!”_

_“It won’t work, no matter how much you have!”_

_“It won’t work, it won’t work, it won’t work!”_

“It won’t work,” Anne repeated as Sephiroth poured out a measured dose.

“Anne, it doesn’t work straight away but you need to keep taking it regularly.”

Anne glared up at him.

“I don’t like it!” she barked at him “How would you know if it’s schizophrenia anyway?!”

“You talk to people who aren’t there, Anne,” Sephiroth said slowly “And those delusions of what you call a future are symptoms of a schizophrenic too.”

“Maybe you need your eyes to be checked then!” Anne bellowed as she slapped the dose away, spilling it onto the carpet “I will never believe you unless I have a proper diagnosis from a doctor!”

She stood and staggered away, pointing at him.

“If it really is schizophrenia, then maybe you’re a hallucination!” she yelled.

“Oh don’t be ridiculous,” Sephiroth sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“No, don’t come any closer!” Anne demanded as he took a step forwards towards her “Stay away from me, leave me alone!  Go away!”

“Anne, you need to take your medicine.”

“It’s not medicine, it’s drugs!  Keep it away from me!”

“Anne, there are some side-effects to using drug treatment to treat schizophrenia but it will get rid of all these hallucinations.  Trust me.”

“You drugged me once before, how do I know that you’re not trying to drug me again?!”

Sephiroth sighed softly as he lowered his arms and grimaced.

“Anne, I am the only person here, there is no-one else here other than you and me.”

Anne’s gaze shifted to the boys who danced behind him and stuck their tongues out at her.

“What if you can see them and you’re just messing with me?” she asked warily.

Sephiroth sighed as he moved forward until he was in front of her.

“Anne, look at me.”

Anne slowly looked up at Sephiroth’s face and flinched at the crestfallen look he portrayed.

“I would never lie to you, I would never do anything to hurt you, trust me, I’m on your side.”

Anne just shook her head once then crouched down onto the floor, bracing her hands on her head.

_“Oh look, now, Horror, mommy’s going into a break down to make a scene again!”_

_“Attention seeker, attention seeker, there’s nothing really wrong with you so stop pretending!”_

“Anne?”

_“Mommy, Horror punched me in the arm!”_

_“He’s lying, mommy, he’s the one who punched me!”_

“Shut up, I’m not your mommy!” Anne screamed as she plugged her ears and shook her head, sobbing.

“Anne, look at me!”

Anne stared up at Sephiroth with wide eyes as he forced her face up.

“There is no-one here apart from you and me, they aren’t real!”

_“We are real!”_

_“Don’t you recognise us, mommy?”_

“I don’t believe you,” Anne whispered “How can they not be real?!  They’re more real than Luna, Tifa, mother…”

“It’s just a very acute episode you’re having, it’s perfectly normal.”

Sephiroth pulled Anne into his arms and carried her back to the vanity, sitting her down.  He poured out another dose.

“You need to keep taking this,” he urged her as she turned away from him “It may make you sleepy, it may make you feel unwell but in the long term it will help!  Trust me.”

“I can never trust you,” Anne snarled.

“Do you want me to stick a needle into you and inject it into your system?  Because I can do that.”

Anne flinched as she hunched her shoulders and shivered.

“Well?”

“Fine, I’ll take it!” Anne snapped as she turned to him “Just don’t…”

Sephiroth let out an exasperated sigh and she swallowed the spoonful of medicine like a good little girl.


End file.
